Nadal wins 5th successive Barcelona Open title

World number one Rafael Nadal claimed his fifth straight Barcelona Open title on Sunday. He beat fellow Spaniard and fourth seed David Ferrera 6-2, 7-5.

RafaelNadalofSpainbitesthetrophyafterdefeating
compatriotDavidFerrerinthefinaloftheBarcelona
Opentennistournament,April26,2009.REUTERS/Albert
Gea(SPAINSPORTTENNIS)

The four-time defending champion made the perfect start with a break in the opening game. But, Ferrer immediately hit back with a break of his own. Nadal broke twice more, though, as his 27-year-old opponent slipped to a 5-1 deficit. Nadal rifled an ace down the middle to take the opening set.

The second set also opened with a break of serve each way before Ferrer stepped-up his game, and Nadal began spraying a few shots off the mark. Tied at 5-5, Ferrer sailed a forehand wide to hand the top seed a triple-break chance. Nadal missed the first two opportunities, but converted his sixth break point of the game. The left-hander went on to seal a 6-2, 7-5 victory in 1 hour, 49 minutes on his second match point when Ferrer sent a forehand long.

Nadal was coming off a record fifth consecutive Monte Carlos Masters triumph. He improved to 24-1 in clay court finals to pick up his fourth title of the season.

Rafael Nadal, 2009 Barcelona Open champion, said, "(I'm) more than happy, amazing for me winning here at my club, in my country, the fifth title here in a very historic tournament like Barcelona, so yeah it's a dream for me to be here."

Casey Stoner wins rain-delayed MotoGP in Qatar

Australian Casey Stoner won the rain-delayed MotoGP in Qatar on Monday. It's the third year in a row that Stoner has won the first grand prix of the new season.

DucatiMotoGPriderCaseyStonerofAustralia
celebratesafterwinningtheQatarMotoGPrace,
attheLosailinternationalcircuitinDohaApril
13,2009.TheMotoGPracewascancelledonSunday
duetoheavyrainandpostponedtoMonday.
(Xinhua/ReutersPhoto)

Casey Stoner took the lead from pole and built up a two-second gap by the end of the first lap. The 2007 world champion was never threatened as he controlled the race from the front. He was the fastest rider in every session over the weekend.

Keough wins fourth stage in Tour of Uruguay

U.S. cyclist Jack Keough won on Monday the fourth stage of the 66th Tour of Uruguay which is led by his Kelly Benefits teammate Jonathan Mumford.

Keough timed 3 hours, 59 minutes and 37 seconds in 175.8km between the cities of Trinidad (center) and Fray Bentos (west), achieving with this his third partial triumph in the competition. Keough's average speed was of 41km per hour.

Uruguayan Geovani Fernandez (Alas Rojas, Uruguya) arrived in second place, followed by Oscar Grau (Cosaor, Spain) and German Victor Uzlen (Norland, Germany).

The fifth stage will be on Wednesday between the cities of Young (west) and Salto (northwest) with a distance of 173km.

A total of 27 teams, including 11 teams of foreigners, with more than 150 cyclists participate in the race.

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Loeb wins Rally of Portugal

Sebastien Loeb continued his perfect start to the 2009 World Rally season with a win in Portugal that extends his lead at the top of the overall standings to ten points. After winning all four races so far this season, the Citroen driver now has a 40-point tally - the maximum possible.

SebastienLoebcontinuedhisperfectstarttothe2009WorldRally
seasonwithawininPortugalthatextendshisleadatthetopof
theoverallstandingstotenpoints.

Day three of the Rally of Portugal began with the familiar sight of Sebastien Loeb leading the field. Mikko Hirvonen had led the way into day two, but the Finn was soon forced into second place after a sustained onslaught from the defending world champion.

As a result, Loeb held a 26-second cushion but knew that he had the worst of the dusty conditions ahead of him. The Frenchman started strongly, but Hirvonen also attacked from the off. Initial split times showed Hirvonen to have closed some of the gap on his illustrious rival.

But they were later deemed to have been inaccurate as the top four drivers maintained their positions from the start of the day. Yet again, the day belonged to Loeb who finished in a time of three hours 53 minutes 13.1 seconds. That was 24.3 seconds ahead of Hirvonen who came home in second place - his third consecutive runners-up spot of the season. Daniel Sordo, Loeb's Citroen team-mate, took third place.

Jenson Button wins rain-shortened race

In Formula 1, Brawn GP's Jenson Button continued his dream debut run as he won a chaotic rain-shortened Malaysian Grand Prix, with just 33 laps completed and only half-points awarded. BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld was second and Toyota's Timo Glock was third.

InFormula1,BrawnGP'sJensonButton
continuedhisdreamdebutrunashewona
chaoticrain-shortenedMalaysianGrand
Prix,withjust33lapscompletedandonly
half-pointsawarded.

But Button didn't make the best of starts, slipping back a couple of places as Williams' Nico Rosberg surged up from fourth on the grid to take the lead.

Nico Rosberg led the race on lap 14, with Jarno Trulli in second place and Button third.

The weather forecast then indicated heavy rain.

Button then pitted on lap 19 and returned to the track in second, before assuming the lead from teammate Rubens Barrichello.

The serious downpour started on lap 22. And ten laps later, the conditions made it impossible to drive. The race was suspended after 32 of the scheduled 56 laps, with Button leading. Only half points were awarded to Button, who secured just the third win of his career.

Jenson Button, Malaysian GP winner, said, "What a crazy race, it really was. I mean, my start was pretty bad. I had a lot of oversteer in the car, I don't think I got heat into the rear tyres. (I) went back to fourth, got up to third, eventually got back to the front.A very interesting race and, you know, I still haven't seen a chequered flag without a safety car in front."