Briefs | Tennis: Andy Murray beats Rafael Nadal in winner-take-all match

Tennis

Murray defeats world's top two players on consecutive days: In a strong statement leading to this month's Australian Open, Andy Murray of Scotland beat top-ranked Rafael Nadal of Spain a day after defeating Roger Federer of Switzerland.

Murray beat Nadal 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 Saturday to take the Capitala World Tennis Championship exhibition tournament, an event in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, that offers a winner-take-all prize of $250,000. In Friday's semifinal round, Murray got past Federer 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6).

Murray, who added muscle during the offseason, is ranked No. 4 and has yet to win a Grand Slam tournament singles title.

"This victory was good before I go to Australia," said Murray, who will first defend his Qatar Open title in Doha. "I have never been past the fourth round there."

NHL

Home cooking for All-Star Game in Montreal: Forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins prevented the Montreal Canadiens from an All-Star sweep.

League officials announced the starting lineups for the Jan. 25 game, and the host Canadiens filled four of the six slots for the Eastern Conference. The Montreal players voted in as starters in fan balloting are forward Alex Kovalev, defensemen Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek and goaltender Carey Price.

Washington's Alex Ovechkin, the league's reigning most valuable player and second this season in goals and points entering Saturday's play, finished sixth among East forwards in the voting.

"It's dumb," Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It's not right the best player in the game is not a starter."

The West starters are forwards Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks, forward Ryan Getzlaf of Anaheim, defensemen Brian Campbell of Chicago and Scott Niedermayer of Anaheim and goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere of Anaheim.

Buffalo ends Boston's winning streak at 10: Matt Ellis scored twice to help Buffalo beat host Boston 4-2, snapping the Bruins' winning streak at 10 games. It was Boston's longest winning streak since 1973.

Flames stay hot: Ex-Vancouver Canuck Todd Bertuzzi scored with 23.4 seconds left in the third period to give the visiting Calgary Flames a 3-2 victory over the host Nashville Predators.

The Flames have won five in a row and lead the Northwest Division by four points over the Canucks.

Showdown: Canada will play Sweden on Monday night for the IIHF world junior championship, a tournament in Ottawa for players younger than 20.

In semifinal games, four-time defending champion Canada beat Russia 6-5 in a shootout and Sweden beat Slovakia 5-3.

Motor sports

Al Attiyah wins first stage of the Dakar Rally: Qatar's Nasser Al Attiyah won the first stage of the Dakar Rally, a run in which he held off three Volkswagens — one including former world champion Carlos Sainz.

Al Attiyah, winner of the UAE Desert Challenge, covered 231 miles in his BMW from Buenos Aires, Argentina, south to Santa Rosa in 2 hours, 36 minutes, 15 seconds.

The 30th Dakar Rally — and the first outside Africa — features 177 cars, 217 motorcycles, 81 trucks and 25 quad bikes. After 14 stages, it will finish Jan. 18 in Buenos Aires. The 2008 race was canceled because of possible terrorist attacks in Mauritania.

Soccer

Nottingham Forest triumphs: Nottingham Forest won 3-0 at Manchester City for the biggest upset in the third round of England's FA Cup.

In another surprise, Southend played to a 1-1 draw at Chelsea.

Luge

Germans win: Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch of Germany won their first World Cup doubles event of the season when they triumphed in Koenigssee, Germany, in 1 minute, 34.616 seconds.

Christian Niccum of Woodinville and Dan Joye of Carmel, N.Y., placed ninth.

Tatjana Huefner of Germany won the women's singles event.

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