Simon rolls to Metz success

Simon rolls to Metz success

Gilles Simon secured the Open de Moselle in Metz with a comfortable straight-sets win in the final.

The Frenchman savoured victory on home turf after easily seeing off the challenge of German qualifier Mischa Zverev 6-3 6-2 in just 67 minutes.

World number 41 Simon has suffered a disrupted season with a knee injury affecting his form and ranking, but his first title since the Bangkok trophy last October is set to lift him up the rankings.

Simon claimed the sole break of serve in the opening set in the sixth game before holding the rest of the way.

Zverev, at 155 the lowest ranked player to reach an ATP final this season, enjoyed a 2-0 career record against Simon coming into the match but never looked like extending that sequence as the Frenchman took charge.

Trailing 2-1 in the second set, Simon turned the screw to win five straight games and complete a one-sided victory.

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Doubts hover over Korean GP

Doubts hover over Korean GP

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone expressed his doubts that the Korean Grand Prix will go ahead.

"It's not good," said Ecclestone, speaking in Singapore. "It should have been inspected maybe six weeks ago, which it was, but it wasn't passed.

"We normally have a 90-day check before a race and now we are sort of putting this off. It's quite dangerous what we've done actually.

"I mean, it's a case of 'do we cancel the race or not?' They say it is all going to be okay, so we hope they are right."

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has expressed his concerns regarding the race, in particular as it would be detrimental to his drivers' chances of winning the title.

Following today's grand prix in which Jenson Button finished fourth and Lewis Hamilton retired for the second successive race, the duo are now 20 and 25 points behind championship leader Mark Webber.

"We would like 100 points and four races, but from what we hear there are a lot of concerns," said Whitmarsh.

"Bernie and the Koreans will work on that, and we will concentrate on going to Suzuka and maximising the points."

"I had a chat with him (Ecclestone) earlier, and he now seems pretty confident.

"We were there a few weeks ago and they were well on course with it, so we're pretty confident."

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Pique urges Torres to leave Liverpool

Pique urges Torres to leave Liverpool

Gerard Pique claims Fernando Torres will be embarrassed having to play in the Europa League for Liverpool.

"I spoke with him before he committed to Liverpool and he told me he wanted to win things with Liverpool - but if the club didn't invest and show real intent, he would be forced to leave.

"It's really embarrassing for Nando to play in a team of that quality.

"You would not see Messi or Rooney playing in the Europa League - so there is no reason why Nando should be playing there.

"Along with David Villa, he is the best striker in the world.

"He needs to be winning things domestically like he does with Spain."

"Liverpool have shown already this season they are not capable of winning things - and that's it for him now," said Pique.

"Liverpool are really testing Nando's loyalty. For the last two seasons they have promised him they will challenge.

"They haven't delivered on it at all. The ownership of the club looks completely unstable. It doesn't look like the manager or the players have any faith in the club.

"There can be no questions when Nando leaves in the summer. Players of less quality would have left last summer.

"But he is a decent guy and believed it when they told him they would invest. I am not just saying this because I want him to join Barcelona.

"The truth is I don't know if he will. It might be Chelsea, it might be Real Madrid, it might be Barcelona.

"But I know he wants to join a club where he can win league titles and European Cups. I would love us to sign Nando in the summer."

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Chennai Super KIngs v Warriors - 2010 CLT20 Galary

Chennai Super KIngs v Warriors - 2010 CLT20 Galary

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B. Dortmund home wins 5-0 over Kaiserslautern

B. Dortmund home wins 5-0 over Kaiserslautern

Borussia Dortmund's charge up the Bundesliga continued with a dominant 5-0 home victory over Kaiserslautern.

Lucas Barrios opened the scoring in the 31st minute and Kevin Grosskreutz doubled the advantage just seven minutes later.

Mats Hummels made it 3-0 in the 65th minute and Robert Lewandowski and Barrios second completed the rout.

The victory gives Jurgen Klopp's team 12 points and second place in the table, three points behind surprise leaders Mainz. Kaiserslautern dropped to ninth place on seven points.

The game started at an extremely high tempo but with few chances until Shinji Kawaga's header in the 19th minute which Kaiserslautern goalkeeper Tobias Sippel was able to gather.

The visitors' first opportunity came two minutes later but Srdjan Lakic's flat shot went just wide.

Dortmund grabbed the lead in the 31st minute after a superb through ball by Nuri Sahin which Barrios ran onto before firing the ball through the legs of Sippel.

The home side doubled their lead seven minutes later on the counter attack with Sahin passing into the path of Grosskreutz, who turned before firing a shot in off the right-hand post.

Dortmund dominated the start of the second half with Sven Bender shooting just over the bar from 17 yards in the 48th minute.

Sippel just managed to block Kawaga's shot seven minutes later and Lukasz Piszczek blasted over the crossbar.

The hosts finally finished off the game in the 65th minute with a header from Hummels from Sahin's free-kick for his third assist of the night.

Lewandowski joined the scoring party 14 minutes from the end, looping Jakub Blaszczykowski's pass over Sippel to make it 4-0.

And Barrios struck again with two minutes to play to round off a comprehensive win.

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Hodgson sorry for Reds shocker

Hodgson sorry for Reds shocker

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has apologised to fans for their Carling Cup exit at the hands of npower League Two Northampton.

"I don't think we came anywhere near what I hoped to see apart from in the last 15 minutes of extra-time when we made a superb effort after going 2-1 down," he said.

"When it goes to penalties and you are at home and in front of the Kop your hope is that at least the players will have the composure and confidence to win the penalty shoot-out but we didn't.

"All I can do is congratulate Northampton and apologise to everyone; the fans came expecting to see us win and I expected us to win but it wasn't to be.

"These players have to accept responsibility. I accept responsibility for changing a lot of players in the team, I did it because I honestly thought the players I put on the field were good enough to win the game and they weren't.

"The obvious conclusion to that was I shouldn't have changed that many players but we should have been strong enough to get a result.

"We must all take our responsibility. I am just bitterly disappointed that the team I had so much faith in did not repay that faith this evening with the exception of one or two performances."

"We wanted to do well in the Carling Cup and we haven't done," he added.

"We were given a kind draw against a team three leagues below us, were expected to win and when you don't you can expect to be criticised from the top downwards.

"It is a major setback for the club. The Carling Cup is a competition we are capable of doing well in and we were playing lower league opponents.

"Whatever happens, if it doesn't result in a victory it is a very negative thing and a setback for the club, one of many we are facing at the moment."

"It is certainly up there as one of the best nights of my career," he said.

"I won a play-off final at Wembley as a player for Northampton and it ranks right up there with that occasion.

"To be a manger and win at Anfield after only one year in the job I'm absolutely delighted, it is a particular highlight.

"Full credit to the players, they are a young team, with the attitude and desire they showed I can't praise them highly enough."

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Strauss warning after wining Pakistan series

Strauss warning after wining Pakistan series

Andrew Strauss finished the NatWest Series with a word of warning that lessons must be learned from the crises of the past three weeks.

Strauss was indebted to Eoin Morgan's unbeaten 107 - at the Rose Bowl, where the Irishman made a match-winning 103 not out against Australia three months ago - as England beat Pakistan by 121 runs to close out a 3-2 win.

"It's been a very tough series at the end of a long summer," said Strauss.

"We've been to some pretty unpleasant places as a team over the last few days, and we've had to show a lot of unity and togetherness.

"We came out today determined to finish the series on a high, and you could see how much it meant to us when the final wicket went down."

"This summer has clearly demonstrated that when there's a sniff of something in the air, it devalues the game - and no-one wants to play cricket in those circumstances," he added.

"Players from both sides have been put under a lot of stress and pressure.

"We don't want to be doing that, and we shouldn't be doing that."

"The ICC have to take a firm lead, leave no stone unturned - and they need to make sure that every game of cricket from now on is not tarnished.

"That's a big challenge for them, no doubt.

"But it's easy to say 'the series is over, let's let this calm down and cricket will return to normal'.

"If that happens then we'll be having to contend with this at some stage in the future."

"It's been a crazy series and one that we hope will never be repeated again," said Strauss.

"We're delighted to have come out and won it.

"I think we've had to dig pretty deep at times (this summer), never more so than this series - which is one of the hardest I've ever had to play in."

Strauss, who was named Player of the Series after scoring 317 runs, believes the controversy could steel his side for this winter's Ashes.

"We can't wait. This summer has prepared us well for that," he said.

"We've had to deal with a lot - and we'll have to do that in Australia."

Strauss' opposite number Shahid Afridi was naturally disappointed with tonight's landslide defeat, but admitted he is relieved too his team's three-month tour is over at last.

"I was thinking about some happy ending - but it's not happened," he said.

"Every day there has been some controversies on this tour, but I'm very happy in this situation that the team was very united and we played as a team.

"Maybe it will give us a good result in the future. Our unity is the one positive thing I am taking from the UK."

"We are clean - the people who are not clean and who are guilty and take the pressures.

"Our team today was very united and played positive and hard cricket."

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