portugal, ukraine, greece win
london: Cristiano Ronaldo upstaged Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the battle of the superstar forwards to give Portugal the edge over Sweden in the World Cup playoffs, while France’s chances of qualifying took a big hit by losing 2-0 in Ukraine. Ronaldo dived to head home an 82nd-minute winner and give Portugal a 1-0 cushion to take to Stockholm for Tuesday’s second leg. France face missing a major tournament for the first time since 1994 after Roman Zozulya and Andriy Yarmolenko scored second-half goals for Ukraine in a feisty match that saw both teams finish with 10 men. Kostas Mitroglou’s double helped Greece claim a 3-1 win over Romania and tiny Iceland overcame a sending-off early in the second half to hold on for a 0-0 draw with Croatia, keeping alive its hopes of becoming the least populous nation to reach a World Cup. All four return matches take place on Tuesday, when the 13 qualifiers from Europe will be finalized.
Serbia, Czechs tied 1-1
Belgrade: Serbia and defending champions the Czech Republic were tied 1-1 after the first day of the Davis Cup final as Novak Djokovic and Tomas Berdych swept through in straight sets. Djokovic, the world number two and recently-crowned ATP World Tour Finals champion, first beat 44th-ranked veteran Radek Stepanek, 7-5, 6-1, 6-4, in two hours and 10 minutes on Friday. Seventh-ranked Berdych then put the Czechs level with a three-set win over 117th-ranked Dusan lajovic -- 6-3 6-4 6-3 in an hour and 54 minutes.
Yuki bhambri trounces Balaji
New Delhi: living up to his top billing, Yuki Bhambri clinched his third overall and second consecutive singles title of season as he routed third seed N Sriram Balaji 6-2, 6-2 in a lop-sided summit clash, here on Saturday. Yuki will now head to China for the Asia Pacific Australian Open wild card tournament high on confidence and with good match practice as he has extended his winning streak to 10 matches. He had entered this tournament after winning a Challenger level title in Traralgon, Australia. He had won a Futures title in August in Chinese Taipei, where he ended runner-up to Yen-Hsun lu the next month. It was first meeting between Yuki and Balaji since their 2008 match on ITF circuit.
Bharadwaj wins Juris Golf Cup
Gurgaon: Senior Advocate of Supreme Court of India, Arun Bharadwaj on Saturday won the 12th Annual Juris Cup Golf Tournament which was held under the aegis of legal Eagle Golfers Association here. The annually organised event witnessed a unique spectacle of top legal names from the apex court and high courts battling in a different arena for the coveted title. Bharadwaj received the Juris Cup in a special award ceremony.