Briefs | American Davenport captures Bell Challenge

Tennis

Davenport has won two of her past three tournaments: Lindsay Davenport of Laguna Beach, Calif., won her second title in three events since returning from the birth of her first child, beating third-seeded Julia Vakulenko of Ukraine 6-4, 6-1 Sunday in the Bell Challenge in Quebec City.

Davenport returned in September, winning the Bali Open in Indonesia before reaching the semifinals in the China Open.

"I did not expect to have such a successful return," said the 31-year-old Davenport, who has won 53 WTA Tour singles titles in her career. "I don't put pressure on myself. I came back for the love of the game. All the elements were in place to help me win this title."

Nalbandian beats Nadal in straight sets: David Nalbandian of Argentina beat Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-4, 6-0 to capture the Paris Masters — clinching his second consecutive Masters title. He won in Madrid, Spain, two weeks earlier.

It was Nadal's first defeat in 26 matches in Paris, where he is 21-0 at the French Open.

Baseball

A-Rod, instant replay could be among hot topics for GMs: After spending a month publicly campaigning that infielder Alex Rodriguez has baseball's highest value, agent Scott Boras said he is going to be more quiet now that the general managers' annual meetings are set to begin.

Boras arrived in Orlando, Fla., on Friday to begin setting up for this year's session, which starts today and continues through Thursday. A-Rod opted out of his record $252 million, 10-year contract with the New York Yankees and might set another record — Boras told the Yankees they would have to put at least a $350 million offer on the table in order to get a meeting with Rodriguez.

"Any discussions as to contract terms is between the teams and ourselves," Boras said Sunday. "It's clear for all of us that we're at that point now where we've got to do a lot of work with the teams involved, and we're going to keep the information and the dialogues with the clubs private and confidential as we go forward."

Speculation on possible destinations for former Mariner Rodriguez, 32, has included the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels, New York Mets and Detroit Tigers.

Instant replay will be another big topic at this week's meetings. Commissioner Bud Selig, who opposes using replays to determine umpires' calls, said last month he was willing to let GMs examine whether instant replay should be used.

Several GMs say they will support replays, in at least a limited form, with most mentioning it could be used to determine whether home runs stayed fair or went foul.

Soccer

Beckham plays in charity match: Soccer icon David Beckham, actors including Anthony LaPaglia and retired players joined forces to raise more than $90,000 for the victims of last month's wildfires in Southern California in an exhibition match in Carson, Calif.

Barcelona closes in on lead: Ronaldinho scored twice and Thierry Henry added a goal as FC Barcelona beat Real Betis 3-0 in the Spanish league.

Barcelona is a point behind league leader Real Madrid, which has 25.

Inter Milan gets tie to stay unbeaten in Serie A: Inter Milan and host Juventus played to a 1-1 draw in Serie A, Italy's top league.

Inter hasn't lost in league play this season and has 25 points. Fiorentina is second with 23.

Figure skating

Joubert wins at Skate Canada: World champion Brian Joubert of France won the Skate Canada men's title.

In Quebec City, Joubert won gold despite jumps that weren't near the quality he produced in winning the world title in Tokyo. Kevin Van Der Perren of Belgium was second. Canadian champion Jeff Buttle, the 2006 Olympic bronze winner, was third.

Olympics

Beijing returns to lottery: Ticket sales for the 2008 Beijing Olympics will revert to a lottery system, organizers said, after a first-come, first-serve process last week attracted so many buyers the computer system crashed.

Bull riding

McBride triumphs: Justin McBride won his second PBR world title by finishing second in the final round of the PBR World Finals in Las Vegas.

Chicken on a Chain was honored as Bull of the Year.

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