SKIING

American teenager wins second World Cup title

America’s Mikaela Shiffrin, just 17 years old, earned her second World Cup title Friday by winning a slalom by a massive 1.19-second margin to regain the lead in the discipline standings at Zagreb, Croatia.

Shiffrin built on her first-run lead to finish in a combined time of 2 minutes, 1.73 seconds — living up to her billing as American skiing’s next big star following her first career World Cup win last month in Are, Sweden.

Frida Hansdotter of Sweden was second, and Erin Mielzynski of Canada was 1.76 behind in third.

TENNIS

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CHENNAI OPEN: Top-seeded Tomas Berdych was upset by Roberto Bautista-Agut of Spain 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals at Chennai, India.

Second-seeded Janko Tipsarevic advanced among the top four, stopping No. 8 Go Soeda of Japan.

QATAR OPEN: Nikolay Davydenko and Richard Gasquet advanced to the final, both winning in straight sets at Doha, Qatar.

Davydenko, a former No. 3 who has dropped to 44th in the world, beat top-seeded David Ferrer.

SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL: Richard Gasquet joined fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as a late withdrawal from the tournament.

SOCCER

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FIFA: Lionel Messi can break another soccer record Monday by being selected the world’s best player for an unprecedented fourth time.

The Barcelona and Argentina forward, who scored 91 goals in 2012, is the favorite to win the FIFA Ballon d’Or prize ahead of club teammate Andres Iniesta and his great rival, Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid.

A fourth straight title would lift Messi above three-time FIFA World Player of the Year winners Zinedine Zidane of France and Ronaldo of Brazil.

GOLF

TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS: Wind squalls that howled down the mountains above Maui were so severe that the opening round was scrapped. Rickie Fowler and Jason Dufner, the first to tee off on the Plantation Course, only played eight holes. Six players in the 30-man field had not even teed off.

The decision to wipe out the round was great news for Scott Stallings, who already was 7-over par through four holes.

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They will play 36 holes Saturday.

OLYMPICS: Rory McIlroy may skip the 2016 Olympics because of a problem over which country to represent.

The No. 1-ranked player from Northern Ireland is eligible to compete for Britain or Ireland when golf returns to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. He said he may miss the games to avoid having to choose between the two.

BASEBALL

MLB: Toronto claimed pitcher Chad Beck, 27, off waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates, bringing the right-hander back to Toronto.

Cleveland finalized a one-year contract with free-agent right-hander Brett Myers.

Myers, who pitched in relief last season for Houston and the Chicago White Sox, will likely fill a spot in Cleveland’s starting rotation. Myers’ $7 million deal includes a club option for 2014.

— From news service reports


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