Bridget Sloan, Rebecca Bross give U.S. 1-2 finish

The Americans are making a habit of this 1-2 thing.

Bridget Sloan edged teammate Rebecca Bross for the title at the world gymnastics championships Friday night at London, just as Nastia Liukin beat Shawn Johnson for the Olympic gold medal last summer in Beijing. And it couldn’t have been closer, with Bross’ fall on her final tumbling pass on floor, the last event, the difference.

Sloan, the lone holdover from the U.S. team that won the silver medal in Beijing, finished with 57.825 points. Bross, competing at her first world championships after turning 16 in July, scored 57.775 points.

Koko Tsurimi gave Japan a rare medal in the women’s all-around, winning the bronze.

TENNIS

Nadal reaches semifinals

Rafael Nadal advanced to the semifinals at the Shanghai Masters, benefiting from yet another retirement when Ivan Ljubicic became the eighth player to quit while playing in the tournament this week.

In the semifinals, Nadal will face Feliciano Lopez, who eliminated ninth-seeded Robin Soderling, 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Elsewhere, second-seeded Novak Djokovic rebounded to beat eighth-seeded Gilles Simon, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, and will play Nikolay Davydenko, a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 winner over Radek Stepanek.

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Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki defeated Aleksandra Wozniak, 6-2, 6-7 (1), 6-2, to advance to the semifinals of the Japan Women’s Open at Osaka. The U.S. Open finalist improved to 5-0 against Wozniak and will next face third-seeded Samantha Stosur, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Jill Craybas.

GOLF

Campbell, Matteson lead

Chad Campbell closed with an eagle on the par-five ninth for a nine-under-par 62 and a share of the second-round lead with Troy Matteson in the PGA Tour’s Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at Las Vegas.

Matt Kuchar shot a 64 to join former UNLV player Ryan Moore (63), Bob Heintz (67) and Martin Laird (67) at 12 under. Rickie Fowler (64), was 11 under in his first PGA Tour start as a professional.

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Dan Forsman had six straight birdies en route to an eight-under 64 and a one-stroke lead in the Champions Tour’s Administaff Small Business Classic at the Woodlands, Texas.

PRO BASKETBALL

Kevin Love fractures hand

Minnesota forward Kevin Love fractured a bone in his left hand during the Timberwolves’ 94-90 exhibition loss to the Chicago Bulls and will probably miss about six weeks.

The former UCLA standout banged his hand against teammate Oleksiy Pecherov’s elbow trying to go for a rebound on a missed free throw late in the third quarter and fractured the fourth metacarpal.

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The Orlando Magic and Coach Stan Van Gundy have been fined $35,000 each for his criticism of referees earlier in the week. Van Gundy became the third coach in three days to be fined. The Charlotte Bobcats and Coach Larry Brown were each fined $60,000 on Wednesday for Brown’s verbal abuse of officials and other incidents, and Memphis Grizzlies Coach Lionel Hollins was penalized $25,000 on Wednesday for his critical comments.

PRO FOOTBALL

Goodell, Smith to testify

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Players Assn. executive director DeMaurice Smith will both testify at a Congressional hearing on head injuries among NFL players.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) said that the committee will hold its hearing Oct. 28.

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The winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded defensive end Gaines Adams to the Chicago Bears for a second-round pick in the 2010 draft. . . . The NFL fined Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis $25,000 for two separate plays, including a helmet-to-helmet hit on Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco.

ETC.

Roethlisberger counters

Ben Roethlisberger is seeking unspecified counter damages from a woman he says falsely accused him of rape in what his lawyer describes as a plan she hatched to seduce the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback in his Lake Tahoe casino-hotel room. . . . Kyle Busch shrugged off walking pneumonia to dominate the Nationwide Series race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., picking up his seventh victory of the year to extend his points lead over Carl Edwards with four races left. . . . Ghana became the first African team to win the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, defeating Brazil on penalty kicks, 4-3, at Cairo. Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu scored the winning penalty kick after Brazil’s Maicon missed. The score was tied 0-0 after 120 minutes. . . . World champion Kim Yu-na of South Korea opened up a lead of nearly 17 points after the women’s short program at the Trophee Bompard in Paris. Kim received 76.08 points to secure first place.