Muguruza beats Bacsinszky for Beijing title
BEIJING: Spain's Garbine Muguruza underlined her rise in world tennis on Sunday as she beat Timea Bacsinszky in straight sets to win her second career title at the China Open in Beijing. This year's Wimbledon finalist overcame a slow start by both players to clinch it 7-5, 6-4 in 95 minutes and soar to a projected fourth in the world rankings -- just one point behind Maria Sharapova. The victory is all the more unexpected as fifth seed Muguruza, 22, retired from the Wuhan Open final against Venus Williams just a week ago, citing exhaustion. It caps an exhilarating tournament for the Spaniard, who celebrated her birthday with a cake on court and also sealed her spot at the year-ending WTA Finals during her run to the trophy match. Muguruza recovered strongly from a losing position in an error-strewn first set as both players made heavy weather of winning their service games at Beijing's National Tennis Stadium.–AFP

Brilliant Korda wins in Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR - American star Jessica Korda produced an impressive final round Sunday to grab the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia title with a four-stroke victory in her first triumph this year. The 22-year-old daughter of former Australian Open tennis champion Petr Korda overcame a stiff challenge from Lydia Ko and defending champion Feng Shanshan to secure her win. "I had a great day. It is just an incredible feeling. I was calm," Korda said after winning as fellow players poured juice on her to celebrate a flawless day on the hot and humid course. An ever-smiling Korda who had hit six birdies to take a two shot lead in the third round Saturday, displayed a magic formula of calmness, accurate long shots and deft touch on her putts to dominate the final day.–AFP

Wawrinka crushes Paire to win Japan Open
TOKYO - Top seed Stan Wawrinka won the Japan Open after thrashing Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-4 in a one-sided final to capture his fourth title of the year. French Open champion Wawrinka needed just 65 minutes to complete victory with Paire, who underwent a scan on his swollen left ankle before the match, clearly struggling. Fierce pressure from Wawrinka earned the Swiss a break for 4-2 in the first set and he pressed home his advantage with a thumping crosscourt forehand which wrong-footed his close friend Paire. With little left in the tank after toppling Kei Nishikori in Saturday's semi-finals, Paire took a tumble early in the second set. The "lucky" sneakers held together by tape he wore in his victory over Nishikori granted Paire no such mystical powers against Wawrinka.–AFP

ICC probes Lanka official over match fixing
COLOMBO: The International Cricket Council has launched a probe into a top Sri Lankan official suspected of involvement in match-fixing, the sport's local governing body said Sunday. Jayananda Warnaweera, curator of the Galle International Stadium, is under investigation by the ICC's anticorruption unit, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) secretary Prakash Shaffter said. Warnaweera, who resigned from the SLC's board last week, is barred from taking part in the Test match at the Galle stadium starting on Wednesday between Sri Lanka and West Indies, pending the probe, Shaffter said. "We requested him to refrain from performing any functions for the foreseeable future and he acceded to our request," Shaffter told AFP. Official sources said the anti-corruption investigation had been going on for nearly a month, but SLC was only formally told on Friday. Warnaweera was not immediately available for comment, but official sources said he did not turn up for questioning by ICC investigators.–AFP

13th National Kabaddi C’ship starts
ISLAMABAD: Punjab, Police, Railways and KP carved out victories on the inaugural day of the 13th National Kabaddi Championship 2015 held here at Hamidi Hall, Pakistan Sports Complex on Sunday. Army Sports Board Director General Brig Ghulam Jiallni was the chief guest on the opening ceremony. In the first match, Punjab were too strong for HEC and won easily 55-26 victory. In the second match, Police outclassed Sindh 42-6. Sindh players were no match to Police star-studded team, who were in awesome form and comfortably win the encounter. In the third match, Railways hammered sorry KP 92-26. In the 4th match, Police beat HEC 43-23. It was relatively close encounter as Police rested few senior players. In the 5th match, Punjab beat Sindh 60-14 and in the 6th match KP beat Balochistan 6-32.–Staff Reporter