tripled and scored on Crawfords sacrifice fly to m

SHANGHAI, China -- Novak Djokovic maintained his dominance in China by holding off Juan Martin del Potro 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (3) on Sunday to capture a second Shanghai Masters title and extend his winning streak in the country to 20 consecutive matches. The Serb completed a back-to-back sweep of titles at the China Open in Beijing and the Shanghai Masters for the second straight year. Hes now captured seven titles overall in China -- the most hes won in any country. Djokovic had to overcome a strong challenge from del Potro, who fended off two match points late in the third set, but couldnt put any pressure on Djokovics serve down the stretch and appeared to fade in the tiebreaker. "Hes a big fighter. All the way up to the last point, I dont know if Im going to win the match," Djokovic said. "His forehand is one of the best in the game, one of the best Ive ever played against. Its a huge weapon and once its on, its very dangerous." For Djokovic, the title has added significance coming just days after he relinquished his top ranking to Rafael Nadal, who lost to del Potro in the semifinals. He cant retake the top spot this week, but Djokovic has been focused on finishing the year strongly to stay within striking distance. "Considering the rankings, I put myself in a better position right now with back to back wins," the six-time Grand Slam winner said. "But the fact that if I would win, I would put myself in a better position, did not affect my motivation. My motivation is there always, especially when Im playing finals of such a big event." It was a tough loss for del Potro, who was trying to win his maiden Masters title at his third attempt. He was coming off a title last week at the Japan Open in Tokyo, and he got his first win over Nadal in four years in the semifinals in Shanghai. Del Potro overpowered Nadal so completely in that match, the Spaniard later said: "Very few times I played against a player with a level like today." Del Potro served notice, however, that hes fully fit and confident again after a wrist injury nearly derailed his career after his breakthrough win at the 2009 U.S. Open. Hes back up to the No. 5 ranking -- his highest in three years -- and has beaten Djokovic, Nadal and Andy Murray this year. He also scored one of the biggest wins of his career over Djokovic at the London Olympics last year, where he beat the Serb in the bronze medal match. "I think Im playing even better than many years ago," he said. "I got good things on my career this year. I couldnt win a Grand Slam like I did in 2009, but I reach finals in the 1000 (level) Masters. I already win three tournaments. I beat the top guys, which is fantastic for me." The match looked like it might be a runaway win for Djokovic early on as he raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first set by dictating play with precise groundstrokes and keeping a sluggish del Potro on the defensive. But the momentum shifted in the second set when del Potro began connecting on his serve and cracking the same forehand winners he used to sweep Nadal off the court in straight sets in the previous round. He broke Djokovic to take an early lead, then played a magnificent game to save three break points to hold for 5-2 before closing out the set. The Argentine appeared to tire slightly as the third set wore on. During one changeover, the chair umpire, Damien Dumusois, warned him that he needed to speed up play between points. "Even after a long rally?" Del Potro asked, looking up wearily. Dumusois nodded yes. Djokovic had two match points on del Potros serve at 4-5 in the set, but the Argentine saved them both. The Serb then pulled away in the tiebreaker by hitting a forehand winner to finish off a 24-shot rally to take a 4-2 lead, leaving del Potro unable to manage another comeback. During the trophy presentation, Djokovic tried to console an obviously disappointed del Potro, one of his better friends on the tour. "Youre a great person and an even better player on the court," Djokovic said. "Im sorry you lost today. You deserve this trophy equally." "What can I say, man, Im trying to be nice to you," he added, smiling, before giving the Argentine a hug. Del Potro later joked: "Now we are not too close." Cheap Nike NBA Jerseys .ca has you covered for whos in, whos out and what to expect from all 30 teams. NBA Jerseys China . Siddikur, who led on all four days and took a four-stroke lead going into the final day, bogeyed four out of six holes starting at the sixth and continued a forgettable last round in which he returned a three-over 75 to finish with a 14-under 274. http://www.cheapjerseysnba.com/ . Both of Padakins goals came in the second period while Zane Jones added a single in the first period for Calgary (13-6-4). Hitmen goaltender Chris Driedger finished with 30 saves for the shutout. Stitched Nike NBA Jerseys . Hes still nowhere close to throwing yet. The four-time MVP was in good spirits when he made his first public appearance on the field since having neck surgery Sept. Cheap Authentic NBA Jerseys . Wade is posting a short film on his website next week, with a sneak preview scheduled to come out Wednesday.SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Giants have raced to the best record in the majors with few contributions from two of their biggest stars. Buster Posey and Matt Cain started to change that Friday night. Posey hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning for his first long ball in more than a month, Cain made a successful return from the disabled list and the Giants won for the eighth time in 10 games by beating the New York Mets 4-2. "Hes a talented hitter," manager Bruce Bochy said of Posey. "We all have our ups and downs. We talk about that all the time. He saw the ball well tonight." The big blast off Carlos Torres (2-3) capped a three-hit day for Posey, who entered the game with only four hits in his past 42 at-bats at home and no homers since May 3. Angel Pagan started the rally with a leadoff walk against Torres and advanced to second on a groundout. Posey followed with a long drive to left-centre to snap a 93 at-bat homer drought as the Giants (40-21) became the first team in the majors to reach 40 wins. "In that situation youre just trying to get something you can stay in the middle of the field with and try to get that run in from second," Posey said. "Fortunately I got a good pitch I could handle and it went out." Jeremy Affeldt (1-1) pitched a scoreless eighth on his 35th birthday to get the win. Sergio Romo got three outs for his 19th save in 21 chances. Daniel Murphy hit a two-run homer for the Mets, who lost their fourth straight game. The bullpen has taken all four of the losses and has a major league-worst 15 losses on the season. "He was the perfect guy," manager Terry Collins said of Torres. "Hes had great numbers against the Giants. He doesnt hardly walk anybody. Busters made a career of getting big hits." Cain allowed two runs and three hits in seven innings in his first start back from a stint on the disabled list for a strained right hamstring. But he got a no-decision and still has only one win in nine starts in a rough seeason that has included two trips to the disabled list.dddddddddddd "We had the fastball working pretty well today," Cain said. "We were on both sides of the plate and tried to mix some off-speed stuff after that. The big key today was getting the fastball over for strikes." Cain was in complete control with a 1-0 lead having faced the minimum 18 batters through six innings before the Mets quickly turned the tide in the seventh. Matt den Dekker led off the inning with a double for New Yorks second hit of the game and Murphy followed with his fourth home run of the season to put the Mets ahead 2-1. The Giants tied it in the bottom half when Brandon Hicks and Brandon Crawford teamed up again to produce a run. Hicks drew a two-out walk from Jonathon Niese, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Crawfords single to centre. The duo produced San Franciscos first run in the fifth when Hicks tripled and scored on Crawfords sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. Niese allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings, extending his streak of consecutive starts allowing three earned runs or fewer to 16 but still ended up with a no-decision. "Its tough," he said. "You go out there and battle and you want to see the win beside your name. But it is what it is, its part of the game. Itll come eventually. I have all the confidence in the offence we have here. Theyre going to put up runs." Cain retired the first 12 batters of the game before walking Curtis Granderson to lead off the fifth. Granderson was quickly erased when Andrew Brown hit into a double play. The Mets got the leadoff runner on again in the sixth when Ruben Tejada reached on an infield single. Cain once again followed that by inducing a double-play grounder by Travis dArnaud. NOTES: There was a pregame moment of silence for Don Zimmer, who coached for San Francisco and played for the Mets. Zimmer died Wednesday at age 83. ... Bartolo Colon (5-5) starts Saturday for the Mets against Tim Hudson (6-2). ' ' '