Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — FIGURE SKATING

Meissner wins Skate America

The matchup of world champions came down to who made fewer mistakes. And the winner was American Kimmie Meissner. Meissner, the U.S. championand 2006 world gold medalist, edged current world champ Miki Ando of Japan at Skate America in Reading, Pa., even though Ando won Sunday's free skate. It was strikingly similar to Saturday's results in the men's event, when Japan's Daisuke Takahashi won even thoughU.S. champion Evan Lysacek took the free skate. Newcomer Caroline Zhang, the world junior champion from Brea, Calif., finished third in her first senior event. Earlier, four-time U.S. champs Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, ranked first in the world in ice dancing, won all three portions of their event this weekend. The 2006 Olympic silver medalists had a misstep or two on the way to a score of 97.68 points, well ahead of Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France. Overall, Belbin and Agosto had 192.95 points to 181.84 for Pechalat-Bourzat. Third were Italians Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali with 172.28, even though Scali fell in footwork.

TENNIS Federer still No. 1

Roger Federer beat Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-4 Sunday in Basel, Switzerland, to win his second consecutive Swiss Indoors and clinch the No. 1 ranking for the fourth consecutive year. Federer joins Pete Sampras, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl as the only men's players to end the season ranked No. 1 four or more times since the inception of the ATP rankings in 1973. Federer, who had failed to win his home tournament six consecutive times before winning last year, has now captured a tourhigh seventh title of the season.

Second-seeded Andy Murray won his third career title Sunday, beating sixth-seeded Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the St. Petersburg Open in St. Petersburg, France. Earlier this season, Murray defended his title in San Jose and was runner-up at Doha and Metz. With the victory, the 20-year-old Briton has improved to 41-13 this season and boosted his chances of qualifying for the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup inShanghai, starting Nov. 11.

Sebastien Grosjean won the Lyon Grand Prix for his first title in five years, serving 17 aces and beating Marc Gicquel 7-6 (5), 6-4 Sunday in Lyon, France. This was Grosjean's fourth career title. His previous one came at St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2002, the year he reached a career-high No. 4 ranking. Grosjean won on his fourth match point, a crosscourt passing shot on the run that sent Gicquel the wrong way.

Second-seeded Daniela Hantuchova defeated Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-2 Sunday to win the Generali Ladies in Linz, Austria, her second WTA Tour title of the season and third overall. The 24-year-old Slovak also won in Indian Wells earlier this year, as she did in 2002, but lost finals in Bali and Luxemburg. The 10th-ranked Hantuchova has now qualified for the season-ending WTA Championships in Madrid, Spain, which she called "quite a miracle." TRIATHLON Stoltz wins Xterra

Conrad Stoltz of South Africa made a strong comeback from injuries to win the Xterra World Championship on Sunday in Honolulu. He finished the nearly27-mile triathlon in 2 hours, 40 minutes, 54 seconds, becoming the first male to win three times since the race started in 1996. "Finally winning again was more of a relief," said the 33-year-old, who also won in 2001 and 2004. He broke a wrist and a vertebra in a training accident and did not compete in last year's Maui race. Julie Dibens of England won the women's title in her first attempt, calling it "the perfect race for me." She led throughout the race and finished in 3:01:24. She won the Xterra UK and Guam races earlier this year.

RUNNING Rookie wins Marine Marathon

Kristen Henehan, a three-time All-American in track at Georgetown University, won the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday in Arlington, Va. Henehan finished the course among the monuments in the nation's capital in 2 hours, 51 minutes, 9 seconds, edging ahead of Lisa Thomas in the final mile to win by 27 seconds. "I truly was not going out with the mindset of, 'I want to win,'" said Henehan, who had never run a full 26.2 miles before beginning training three months ago. "I was going out with the mindset of, 'I'm running my first marathon and I want it to be a positive experience.'" Ethiopian Tamrat Ayalew was the fastest of more than 22,000 runners, finishing the final five miles all alone to unseat two-time defending champion Ruben Garcia with a time of 2:22:18 in the men's race. Carl Rundell, who had finished in the top five the past three years and twice was runner-up to Garcia, stayed with the front-runners for the first 18 miles before fading to fifth. He skipped next week's Olympic trials to participate.

Wilfred Kigen of Kenya won his third consecutive Frankfurt Marathon on Sunday in Frankfurt, Germany, finishing in 2 hours, 7 minutes, 58 seconds. Kigen pulled away from two Kenyans over the final miles through Frankfurt's downtown as he lowered his own course record by 31 seconds. Hosea Rottich was second in 2:08:11, followed by Sammy Kurgat in 2:08:38. Melanie Kraus of Germany caught Svetlana Zakharova late in the race to win the women's title in 2:28:56. The Russian finished in 2:29:12 in her first race since the former Boston and Chicago winner had a child. She just edged Norway's Kirsten Melkevik Otterbu, who posted the same time.

BOWLING Rash wins Masters title

Sean Rash, of Wichita, Kan., won the U.S. Bowling Congress Masters title Sunday in Milwaukee by defeating Steve Jaros 269-245 in the final. Rash got a break on a crossover strike in the third frame and struck out after leaving a 6-pin in the fifth. He has won titles in each of his first four TV appearances, tying Hugh Miller as the only bowlers to accomplish that feat. He improved to 7-0 in TV matches to start his career and is one shy of tying the record 8-0 start of George Branham III. Rash, a second-year exempt player on the Denny's PBA Tour, earned $100,000 from the purse of $350,000. The USBC Masters is one of four major championships in bowling and is the first U.S. event on the 2007-08 tour schedule. Rash, seeded No. 1, was the only bowler to go unbeaten through the double-elimination matchplay bracket. He earned a two-year tour exemption for winning the title. Jaros, of Yorkville, Ill., went into the finals seeded fourth but beat third-seeded Walter Ray Williams Jr., 279-254, and then knocked off second-seeded Patrick Allen 290-233. Williams, of Ocala, Fla., is the tour's career winner with 42 titles but hasn't won since the 2006 season opener, a span of 22 events that includes five television appearances.

MOTOR SPORTS Fuller wins Las Vegas race, takes Top Fuel lead

LAS VEGAS - Hometown driver Rod Fuller completed the best weekend of his three-year pro career Sunday, winning the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals to take the Top Fuel points lead with one race left in the season.

The victory, Fuller's third of the season, followed a victory Saturday in the Technicoat Top Fuel Shootout bonus event.

"It's good to be home," said Fuller, a Rogers native who lives in Las Vegas. "We won a big race yesterday, but I didn't get to enjoy it because I was so focused on today. A $100,000 is great but it's gone fast. A world championship lasts forever. I just got in that zone and I've been there all weekend. It's exhausting but it's worth it now.

In Funny Car, Tony Pedregon put a stranglehold on the title chase with his fourth victory of the year. The other three racers fighting for the Funny Car title in the Countdown to One all lost in Round 1.

Pro Stock star Greg Anderson won for the fifth time at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to regain the points lead he held for most of the regular season. Three-time and reigning Pro Stock Motorcycle champ Andrew Hines remained the man to beat in his category with another convincing victory.

"They told me that under the old points system, I would have clinched the championship by now. But at the same time I'm a believer in the new deal because I've seen the excitement it's generated. That's easier to say now because we're up again but I do like the way it's all turning out," Fuller said

By beating a resurgent Doug Kalitta in a razor-close final - 4.531 at 327.82 mph to Kalitta's 4.537 at 331.36 mph - Fuller moved 52 points ahead of Larry Dixon, with Brandon Bernstein (61 back) and Tony Schumacher (67 back) following behind in the Countdown to 1 standings.