– SOCCER

Man United tops Chelsea, nears record 19th title

Manchester United is on the verge of a record 19th English championship crown after beating title rival Chelsea 2-1 Sunday.

Alex Ferguson’s team is six points clear of Chelsea with two games to go and will regain the Premier League trophy from the London club with at least a draw at Blackburn on Saturday.

United can afford to lose its matches against Blackburn and Blackpool if Chelsea doesn’t secure a maximum of six points from its remaining fixtures.

Javier Hernandez put United ahead after 36 seconds, and Nemanja Vidic headed in another 23 minutes later to ensure Frank Lampard’s 68th-minute goal for Chelsea was just a consolation.

Winning a 19th English title would push United past Liverpool.

SERIE A: Napoli fell four points behind second-place Inter Milan after losing 2-1 at Lecce.

Daniele Corvia put Lecce ahead from the penalty spot before he was ejected.

Giuseppe Mascara equalized, but any hopes Napoli had of winning disappeared when leading scorer Edinson Cavani was ejected with 16 minutes left in regulation.

SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Celtic kept alive its hopes of toppling Rangers from the league lead with a 2-0 victory at Kilmarnock.

After recovering from a shock loss at Inverness on Wednesday, Celtic is a point behind defending champion Rangers with two games remaining.

Captain Scott Brown put Celtic ahead in first-half stoppage time with a close-range header, and Kris Commons sealed it in the 68th minute with a 25-yard strike.

TENNIS

MADRID OPEN: Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal on clay for the first time in 10 tries, beating the top-ranked Spaniard 7-5, 6-4 to win in Madrid and extend his unbeaten start to the season to 32 matches.

The second-ranked Djokovic ended Nadal’s latest winning streak on clay at 37 matches and earned his third straight victory over Nadal in finals this year.

Djokovic’s sixth title of 2011 allowed him to surpass Bjorn Borg’s 31-match season-opening run in 1980. He trails only John McEnroe’s 42-0 start in 1984.

HORSE RACING

BELMONT PARK: Lady On The Run pulled off a 10-1 upset in the $100,000 New York Stallion Park Avenue Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Belmont Park.

Mike Luzzi was aboard for trainer John Morrison as Lady On The Run rallied for her first career victory in six tries, a 41/4-length win over Freuds On Holidays. The time was 1:17.49 for the 61/2 furlongs.

Lady On The Run paid $22.60, $7.60 and $3.80. Freuds On Holidays returned $3.60 and $2.90. Good Habits paid $2.90 to show.

FOOTBALL

FORMER PATRIOT ARRESTED: Former NFL great Mack Herron, 62, is in police custody after being charged with heroin possession in Chicago.

Herron played for New England in the 1970s and set an NFL record with 2,444 all-purpose yards in 1974. The record stood for 11 years.

Chicago police said they spotted Herron on Friday near an abandoned building with a tinfoil packet containing heroin.

They said Herron has been arrested some 20 times and has served jail time, mainly on drug convictions. Bail is set at $25,000.

HOCKEY

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Czech Republic overcame the arrival of Alex Ovechkin to beat Russia 3-2 and maintain a perfect tournament record in Kosice, Slovakia.

AUTO RACING

FORMULA ONE: Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel cruised to victory in the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul, taking his third win of the season ahead of teammate Mark Webber to extend his points lead.

– From news service reports