Once Again, Hewitt Wins Masters Cup

Lleyton Hewitt has the ATP Masters Cup title to go with the year-end No. 1 ranking for the second consecutive season.

The Wimbledon champion defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero, 7-5, 7-5, 2-6, 2-6, 6-4, Sunday to win the eight-player tournament at Shanghai, China. On the way to the final, Hewitt beat Albert Costa, Marat Safin and Roger Federer and lost to Carlos Moya.

“Every match this week was a grind,” Hewitt said. “I didn’t have one easy match. I think maybe a couple of three-hour matches and a four-hour match, nearly. I don’t know how I held up at all.”

Hewitt is the first player since Pete Sampras in 1997 to win consecutive season-ending championships. During the week, he secured a second consecutive year-end No. 1 ranking.

Golf

Behind strong performances from Hale Irwin and Tom Lehman in terrible weather at St. Simons Island, Ga., the U.S. team easily retained the UBS Warburg Cup and kept Arnold Palmer undefeated as a captain in all cup competitions.

The final score was 14 1/2-9 1/2 in matches between the U.S. and the Rest of the World. Half of the players were from the 40-49 age group, the other half 50 and over.

Most have played long enough to know this was a tough day -- temperatures in the mid-40s with gusts up to 30 mph, strong enough to twice blow Eduardo Romero’s ball off the green on No. 7. Victory was hardly in doubt for the U.S., even though World captain Gary Player atoned for his loss last year by defeating Palmer, 6 and 5, in the opening match.

Miscellany

The Florida Marlins will trade left-hander Mike Hampton -- acquired from Colorado on Saturday -- to the Atlanta Braves for reliever Tim Spooneybarger and a minor leaguer, a baseball source said on condition of anonymity. The source said details must be finalized, the trade must be approved by the commissioner’s office, and the players must pass physicals.

The acquisition of Hampton may end the Braves’ interest in re-signing free-agent left-hander Tom Glavine, who has spent his entire 16-year career in Atlanta.

The Braves will owe Hampton about $35.5 million over the next three years, with the Rockies and Marlins paying off the final three years of his eight-year, $121-million deal.

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Middle-distance star Hicham El Guerrouj and marathon record-holder Paula Radcliffe were chosen athletes of the year by track and field’s governing body in Monte Carlo.

El Guerrouj is the first to win the award twice in a row. In 2002, he won all 11 races at 1,500 meters or the mile.

Radcliffe set a women’s best of 2 hours 17 minutes 18 seconds in winning the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 14.

Ukrainian Yana Klochkova won two golds and a bronze Sunday in swimming’s FINA World Cup at Rio de Janeiro to increase her total to four golds and two bronze for the competition. The 20-year-old won the 400 individual medley in 4 minutes 36.94 seconds and the 200 butterfly in 2:09.04. She was third in the 400 freestyle, won by Rachel Komisarz in 4:07.66.

American Amanda Beard got her second gold of the meet, taking the 200 breaststroke in 2:23.16 seconds. Haley Cope won the 100 backstroke in 59.93; and Gabrielle Rose took the 100 individual medley in 1:01.2.

Canada’s Cindy Klassen won her third race at the Speedskating World Cup in Erfurt, Germany. Klassen, the 500 and 1,000 winner, claimed the 1,500 in 1 minute 58.47 seconds, edging four-time Olympic champion Claudia Pechstein of Germany by 0.03 of a second.