Cesar Cielo leads Brazil swim medal haul

Olympic swim champion Cesar Cielo won his first and second titles at this year’s Pan American Games on Sunday, starting a golden night in the pool for Brazil.

Cielo, one of the most accomplished competitors in Guadalajara for the Pan Am Games, set a competition record in winning the 100-meter freestyle in 47.84 seconds. He then helped Brazil win the 4x100 freestyle relay in 3:14.65, another Games record.

Felipe Frana added to Brazil’s haul with gold in the men’s 100 breaststroke, but the United States still leads the medals table with 11 gold and 26 overall. Brazil, which also won the rhythmic gymnastics group all-around Sunday, has five gold and 13 overall.

The Americans won the other two golds in the pool on the second day of competition, and the U.S. also won the men’s 10-meter air pistol and equestrian’s team dressage.

In swimming, Catherine Breed and Chelsea Nauta of the U.S. finished 1-2 in the women’s 200 freestyle, and Rachel Bootsma and Elizabeth Pelton claimed gold and silver in the women’s 100 backstroke.

ETC.

Crane shoots 63, wins playoff

Seven shots behind with 11 holes to play in the McGladrey Classic, Ben Crane ran off seven birdies and closed with a seven-under-par 63, then won the sudden-death playoff when Webb Simpson missed a short par putt on the second extra hole Sunday at St. Simons Island, Ga.

Simpson closed with a 66, despite not making a birdie over his last seven holes.

They finished at 15-under 265 and extended the PGA Tour’s record with the 18th playoff this year.

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Fred Couples ran away with the Champions Tour’s AT&T Championship at San Antonio, shooting a bogey-free six-under 66 for a seven-stroke victory — the largest margin on the 50-and-older tour this year.

Couples opened with rounds of 65 and 62 and finished at 23 under on TPC San Antonio’s Canyons Course. He won for the second time this season and sixth time in two seasons on the tour.

Mark Calcavecchia shot a 66 and finished second.

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South Korea’s Na Yeon Choi won the LPGA Malaysia for her first LPGA Tour victory of the season and fifth in three years, beating top-ranked Yani Tseng by a stroke.

Choi closed with a three-under 69, finishing at 15-under 269 at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club.

Tseng, a six-time LPGA Tour winner this season, parred the final two holes for a 65.

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Defending champion Andy Murray defeated David Ferrer, 7-5, 6-4, to win the Shanghai Masters, ensuring he will vault past Roger Federer to No. 3 in the ATP rankings.

The Scot, currently ranked fourth, has made finishing the season at No. 3 one of his main goals for the end of the year. It will be the first time Federer has fallen out of the top three since June 2003 — just before he won his first Wimbledon title.

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Second-seeded Marion Bartoli of France cruised to a straight-sets victory over top-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia to win the Japan Open at Osaka.

Bartoli defeated the U.S. Open champion, 6-3, 6-1, in 1 hour 14 minutes.

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Top-seeded Petra Kvitova beat Dominika Cibulkova, 6-4, 6-1, to win the Generali Ladies at Linz, Austria, for her first title since Wimbledon in June.

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Sebastian Vettel showed no sign of letting up, winning the Korean Grand Prix at Yeongam, South Korea, and underlining his dominance of the Formula One season one week after clinching his second drivers’ championship in a row.

Vettel, who started from second on the grid, passed pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton on the first lap and dominated the 55-lap race before crossing the finish line in a time of 1 hour 38 minutes 01.994 seconds, 12 seconds ahead of the McLaren driver.

Red Bull’s Mark Webber was third — securing consecutive constructors’ titles for the team — followed by McLaren’s Jenson Button and Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso, with second through fifth tightly bunched as they crossed the line.

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Jack Beckman took the funny car standings lead with two events left, racing to his third career win at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Ariz.

Larry Dixon (top fuel), Vincent Nobile (pro stock) and Hector Arana Jr. (pro stock motorcycle) also won the fourth of six races in the NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship, the series’ six-race playoffs.