SPORTS DIGEST:Andy Murray will play his first match since September 20th in the Valencia Open today. Murray, the top seed, will take on Spanish wild card Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the first round.
The world number four has not played since winning both his singles matches in Britain’s Davis Cup defeat to Poland in Liverpool.
The 22-year-old has been suffering with a wrist injury but said on his website: “The wrist is fine.”
Yankees looking to wrap it up
BASEBALL:The New York Yankees were just one win away, ahead of the fifth game, from clinching their 27th World Series title after a dramatic 7-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Sunday night. With scores level at 4-4 going into the ninth innings the Yankees scored three runs, before expert closer Mariano Rivera sewed up the contest with an eight-pitch innings.
It was heartbreaking for the Phillies who had fought back to level through solo homers from Chase Utley and Pedro Feliz before reliever Brad Lidge had the Yankees on the brink in the ninth with two outs. The series was due to resume early this morning in Philadelphia when the Yankees looked to wrap things up.
Haye looking to knock Valuev out
BOXING:David Haye's trainer has promised the Briton will go all out in search of a knock-out when he challenges Russian giant Nikolay Valuev for the WBA heavyweight title on Saturday.
Londoner Haye will attempt to do the unthinkable and floor 7ft 2in Valuev for the first time in his 16-year career when the pair meet in Nuremberg.
The common consensus is that 6ft 3in Haye’s only chance of victory is to utilise his speed advantage to out-box Valuev, but trainer Adam Booth maintains his man has enough power to hurt the champion.
“Heavyweight boxing should be exciting,” he said.
“David always looks to try to knock someone out. This is going to be no different, it’s a strategy we employ to go about landing shots.
“We’re busy working through the stuff we need to work through. It’s an obvious thing to say it is the biggest challenge of his career because he (Valuev) is the biggest guy and it’s the world heavyweight championship.”
Gebrselassie eyes record
ATHLETICS:Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie will attack his own world record when he defends his Dubai Marathon title next year. Gebrselassie's record of two hours three minutes 59 seconds will be under threat on January 22nd over the fast Dubai course. He said: "I still can't believe I didn't break the world record in 2008. Everything was perfect, except the pace for the first half of the race, which was too fast."
Barrichello goes to Williams
FORMULA ONE:Ross Brawn has paid tribute to Rubens Barrichello whose Indian summer in Formula One will continue with Williams next year.
Williams yesterday unsurprisingly confirmed veteran Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg as their line-up for 2010, with Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima making way.
Rosberg is almost certain to switch to Brawn GP to link up with Jenson Button, providing the new world champion can thrash out a deal with the Brackley-based team.
Button was forced to fend off a title charge from Barrichello after sweeping aside the Brazilian in the opening seven races when he was victorious in six of those.
The 37-year-old was forced to settle for third in the drivers’ standings.
Australia level series with India
CRICKET:Medium-pacers Doug Bollinger and Shane Watson grabbed three wickets apiece to inspire Australia to a 24-run win in the fourth one-dayer against India yesterday to level the series 2-2.
Sachin Tendulkar was trapped lbw for 40 by spinner Nathan Hauritz with India, chasing 251 for victory, well placed on 94 for two and Australia turned the game around in determined fashion.
Left-armer Bollinger dismissed Mahendra Singh Dhoni (26), having sent back explosive opener Virender Sehwag (30) and Virat Kohli (10) in his first spell.
Watson, who also smashed 49 with the bat, then sent back the free-hitting Harbhajan Singh (31), Praveen Kumar (16) and Ashish Nehra (7) as the home team were bowled out for 226 in 46.4 overs. Tendulkar was removed seven runs short of 17,000 in one-dayers although TV replays suggested the ball would have missed off-stump.
Evans joins BMC Racing
CYCLING:Australian world champion Cadel Evans has agreed to ride for the American BMC Racing Team, two days after ending his five-year association with Belgian team Silence Lotto. The 32-year-old Evans won the world road race title in Switzerland at the end of September and has twice finished second in the Tour de France
The BMC Racing Team announced the signing of Evans on a three-year contract yesterday.
