Rafael Nadal’s win knocks David Ferrer out of ATP event

Rafael Nadal kept his Spanish compatriot, David Ferrer, out of the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals on Friday by holding off Tomas Berdych, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, to finish the round-robin portion of the competition at London undefeated and top Group A.

Nadal won despite having clinched his own place in the semifinals Thursday. Stanislas Wawrinka beat Ferrer, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-1, but needed Nadal to win to advance. Defending champion Novak Djokovic, who topped Group B, is already in the semifinals. The winner Saturday’s match between Juan Martin del Potro and Roger Federer will be the last member of the final four.

GOLF: Tiger Woods one shot behind in Turkish Open

Tiger Woods shot a nine-under 63 to trim a six-shot deficit to one after the second round of the Turkish Open at Belek, Turkey. Woods completed seven holes of his rain-delayed first round for a 70 on Friday morning. After a lunch break, he had nine birdies in the second round. It left Woods in fifth place at 11 under, one stroke behind a four-way tie for first among Henrik Stenson (68), Ian Poulter (66), Victor Dubuisson (65) and Justin Walters (66).

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Chris Kirk rolled in a 40-foot birdie putt from off the green, chipped in from nearly 60 feet for birdie on another hole and wound up with another four-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead in the rain-suspended second round of the McGladrey Classic at the Seaside Course at St. Simons Island, Ga. Eighteen players were scheduled to return Saturday morning to finish the round; none were closer than three shots of Kirk.

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Japan’s Shiho Oyama shot a four-under 68 to take the first-round lead in the Mizuno Classic at Shima, Japan, the final tournament in the LPGA Tour’s five-event Asian swing.

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NBA: Charlotte’s Steve Clifford has heart surgery

The Charlotte Bobcats said that Coach Steve Clifford, 52, was resting comfortably after a procedure to have two stents placed in his heart but that it was too early to know when he would return to work. Clifford was an assistant coach with the Lakers last season. Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing filled in as Charlotte’s acting head coach Friday night in a 101-91 loss to the New York Knicks.

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Miami Heat guard Mario Chalmers was fined $15,000 by the NBA for hitting Clippers forward Blake Griffin in the throat with a forearm Thursday night. The foul also was upgraded to a flagrant foul 2 from a common infraction.

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The NBA suspended Dallas Mavericks guard-forward Vince Carter one game for throwing an elbow and making contact with the head of Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams during Wednesday’s game.

HOCKEY: Florida Panthers fire Kevin Dineen

The Florida Panthers fired Coach Kevin Dineen, a move that General Manager Dale Tallon called “the first of many changes” for a franchise that is off to one of the worst starts in the league this season. Peter Horachek was summoned from the team’s AHL affiliate in San Antonio to serve as an interim replacement. In unrelated news, Panthers forward Jesse Winchester was suspended three games without pay by the NHL for elbowing Boston forward Chris Kelly on Thursday night.

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The Edmonton Oilers say they have a verbal agreement in place to sign goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to a one-year contract.

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In women’s hockey, Canada rallied for a 4-3 victory over Sweden to advance to the title game of the Four Nations Cup tournament at Lake Placid, N.Y. The Canadians will play the winner of the U.S.-Finland game.

ETC: Court allows case against NCAA to go forward

A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit challenging the way the NCAA has used the images and likenesses of college athletes can move forward, but denied class action status to the plaintiffs that could have potentially put the NCAA on the hook for billions of dollars in damages. The 24-page partial class certification ruling was handed down Friday by U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken. The case could still dramatically change the way the NCAA does business and its definition of amateurism, but Wilken ruled there was no way to determine which former players might have been harmed by the NCAA rules. Former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon is the lead plaintiff among 16 former college athletes in the long-running legal battle over how the NCAA made money off the images, likenesses and names of athletes. Both the lead attorney representing O’Bannon and the NCAA claimed Friday’s ruling was a win for their side.

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The Cincinnati Reds agreed in principle on a deal with catcher Brayan Pena, who hit.297 in 71 games for the Detroit Tigers last season.

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USC’s football game against Stanford on Nov. 16 at the Coliseum will kick off at 5 p.m., and will be televised by ABC.

—Gary Klein

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Sophomore guard Kahlil Johnson left the California men’s basketball team, a decision the Berkeley school says is to turn his attention to academics. Johnson, who is from Los Angeles, had six points and five rebounds in 17 minutes in six games last season as a freshman.

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Rutgers freshman forward Junior Etou has been suspended for six games by the NCAA for accepting impermissible benefits from a third party overseas in 2012. Neither the school nor Coach Eddie Jordan specified what Etou received.

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Minnesota Golden Gophers center Maurice Walker has been suspended for six games for a violation of university policy.

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Two-time world figure skating champion Mao Asada led after the women’s short program of the NHK Trophy event at Tokyo. She had 71.26 points, five ahead of Akiko Suzuki. Gracie Gold and Elena Radionova were tied for third with 62.83 points. In the men’s event, 2010 Olympic bronze medalist Daisuke Takahashi had a big lead with 95.55 points.

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Nigeria beat Mexico, 3-0, in soccer’s Under-17 World Cup final at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to win the tournament for a record fourth time.

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FIFA President Sepp Blatter says the 2022 World Cup in Qatar should be played in winter, rather than its traditional June-July slot, to avoid summer heat in the Gulf, but the final decision on the dates might not come until 2015.