Andy Roddick

Top American wins 26th career title, taking the China Open -- even more fun than eating cocktail weenies at Mardy Fish's wedding. After playing in Madrid last week, it's been a nice frequent flier miles haul for Roddick as well.

Rossi secures sixth MotoGP world crown

(CNN) -- Italian legend Valentino Rossi clinched his sixth MotoGP world title with a thrilling victory in Japan on Sunday. Rossi was getting his hands on the world title for the first time since 2005.

Rossi, riding a Yamaha, went clear of his arch-rival and defending champion Casey Stoner with 11 laps to go at the Motegi circuit to win by nearly two seconds from the Australian. Spain's Dani Pedrosa was third with compatriot Jorge Lorenzo, who started from pole position, in fourth place.

But all the attention focused on the remarkable Rossi, who was claiming his eighth victory of the season and his fifth straight since he took the United States Grand Prix in July.

It left him needing just a podium finish to reclaim the title he last won in 2005.

"It's difficult to compare the titles," Rossi told Associated Press. "This one is great because we really battled here. There have been a lot titles in my career but maybe this is the one that required the most effort."

American Nicky Hayden pipped Rossi to the title in the last race of the 2006 season while Stoner dominated in 2007. With three races left in the season, Rossi has 312 points, 92 ahead of Stoner.

Sunday's race quickly became a contest between Stoner and Rossi as the two riders opened up a comfortable lead ahead of the pack.

"I felt good at the start of the race," said Stoner, who wrapped up his 2007 triumph with a sixth-place finish at Motegi last year.

"I needed a few laps to warm up the tires, then I got a little tired changing the direction of the bike and Valentino came forward."

Rossi is now closing fast on the all-time record of eight world titles held by compatriot Giacomo Agostini. He pulls clear of Australian Mick Doohan who had also won five titles

Ronaldo return can fire United title defense

LONDON, England (AP) -- Cristiano Ronaldo returns to Champions League action on Tuesday in a bid to kickstart Manchester United's title defense after the club's jittery start.

Ronaldo's return can kickstart Manchester United's European title defense after the club's jittery start.

The Portuguese winger, who scored 42 goals during United's double triumph in Europe's top club competition and the Premier League, is back to full fitness after an ankle operation.

After a 0-0 draw with Villarreal in a group which is searching for its first goal, the Red Devils hope Ronaldo will be the catalyst to a much-needed victory against Danish side Aalborg.

Ronaldo scored in United's League Cup 3-1 win against Middlesbrough last week and in Saturday's 2-0 Premier League victory over Bolton.

Ronaldo faces an Aalborg defender who almost missed the game through a suspension he did not deserve.

Michael Beauchamp was sent off in the 0-0 draw with Celtic in Glasgow but the referee had sent off the wrong player.

When Aalborg appealed and UEFA realized that Michael Jakobsen had committed the foul that led to his red card, Beauchamp won a reprieve. He will now face United while Jakobsen serves the one-game ban.

"Luckily everything has been put to rights," the Australian defender said. "Apart from the referee, everyone could see it wasn't me but Michael Jakobsen who made the challenge."

"Now I'm available for a dream match which my parents are flying over from Australia for," Beauchamp said. "Strictly speaking our chances of winning are minimal. Instead we're viewing this match primarily as a great experience."

Celtic goes to Villarreal in the other Group E game with both clubs coming off domestic victories at the weekend.

Like Man United, Arsenal had a shaky start to its Champions League campaign, needing a late equalizer at Dynamo Kiev.

But their 2-1 loss at home to Hull City on Saturday was one of the biggest shocks since the Premier League started 16 years ago. Arsene Wenger needs a home victory over Group G leader FC Porto to steady the nerves of the Gunners fans.

"I don't know if we can afford to lose again but what we delivered (against Hull) was not good enough," Wenger said. "We know that. So the important thing now is not how many games we can lose this season but preparing well for Tuesday night."

Porto won their opening game 3-1 against Fenerbahce which hosts Kiev.

Villa double sees Valencia go top in Spain

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- A double strike from David Villa helped Valencia beat Deportivo La Coruna 4-2 on Sunday to move them top of the Spanish league, ahead of Villarreal on goal difference.

The visitors took the lead when Valencia defender Emiliano Moretti put through his own net in the 11th minute, after redirecting Pablo Alvarez's cross past keeper Renan Brito at his near post.

However, man-of-the-match Juanma Mata levelled in the 35th minute when the young winger headed home a flicked-on cross from Joaquin Sanchez at the far post.

Villa made it 2-1 when he ran onto Mata's ball early in the second half, before cutting inside and stabbing home a right-foot shot.

Sanchez added Valencia's third in the 69th minute when converting Mata's cross from close-range and Mata also set-up the fourth, breaking down the left before feeding Villa at the far post for an easy tap-in that took the Spain striker top of the scoring charts with six goals from five matches.

Angel Lafita pulled a consolation goal back for added Deportivo with five minutes remaining.

Meanwhile, Almeria continued their fine start to the season, but they needed a goal deep in injury time to beat Recreativo Huelva 1-0 to move level with Barcelona in the table with 10 points.

Alvaro Negredo scored the late winner after Recreativo had been reduced to nine men following the dismissals of Jesus Vazquez and Oliveira in the closing stages. Sisinio Gonzalez was then sent off for dissent following Negredo's fourth goal of the season.

Elsewhere, Malaga secured their first victory of the season with a 2-1 win over Valladolid.

Manuel "Lolo" Ortiz slotted a low shot home through a crowd in the 34th minute for Malaga's first goal of the season after 394 minutes played.

Adrian Lopez then secured promoted Malaga's first three points in the 55th minute when the substitute poked Eliseu's cross under goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo. Pedro Leon pulled a goal back for Valladolid when he sidefooted in Haris Medunjanin's rebound at the near post.

Spectacular Singapore lights the way for F1

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Formula One turned to the dark side at the Singapore Grand Prix and judging by how well it was received the sport's first night race will not be its last

Even if it had not thrown up an unlikely winner after a dramatic two hours of racing, Singapore delivered something different.

"It has a good chance of challenging Monaco for being the jewel in the crown of Formula One," Frank Williams told The Guardian newspaper.

With the wildcard element of thunderstorms staying away, the early stages of the race followed a predictably processional pattern as Ferrari's Felipe Massa drove away serenely at the front.

But Nelson Piquet's crash soon after ruined all the best-laid plans and Massa's bungled pitstop, which saw him drive off with the fuel hose still attached, left spectators rubbing their eyes -- and not because it was nearing bed-time.

It swiflty became clear that Singapore could end up with a very different podium and so it proved, with Fernando Alonso winning for the first time in a year and Nico Rosberg achieving his best F1 result.

Singapore at night looked good on television -- and that was the whole point of the exercise as far as the organizers were concerned.

The cameramen had obviously been briefed to pan out from the action and across Marina Bay towards the twinkling, towering city skyline whenever possible.

There were also some spectacular shots of car headlights streaming along the dark flyovers that criss-crossed the early part of the lap, while their floodlit F1 equivalents raced around at treble the speed underneath. Read more about F1 at The Circuit.

It all added to the sense of spectacle, a point not lost on Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong who attended the race.

"I've been watching it on TV the last couple of nights, not watching the cars, but watching the skyline, to see whether the skyline shows up and we see Singapore showing off its best," he told the Straits Times.

"And I think that it's a city we can be proud of, and this is a valuable buzz, publicity for us around the world, which will benefit us in many ways."

McLaren boss Ron Dennis was equally impressed with what the city-state had delivered after months of being left in the dark.

"It is not just a new experience," he said. "It is a real big step in the history of grand prix racing because it has been done so well.

"There are very few places that don't look even better at night because they are beautifully lit and it is the same of this city.

"When you see the shots of the city and the way they have brought the whole atmosphere of Singapore into the event, it is just phenomenal."

The novelty and intrigue generated ahead of the inaugural trip to Singapore may disappear, but the increase in the number of people watching night races will not.

With a lunchtime start in F1's European heartland, the move to night-time starts in Asian races means the sport's money men can milk the international TV market for all its worth.

The Malaysian Grand Prix organizers are looking at running their 2009 race under floodlights and F1 promoter Bernie Ecclestone wants the Japanese Grand Prix to go the same way.

"We're going to try to get Japan to do it. I hope when people see Singapore they realize it wasn't a stupid idea," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Dennis, though, is looking at potentially having night races revolutionize F1 closer to home.

"Everything has been proven to work and we can take this model and apply it anywhere. It could be used in Europe to bring us into night and we can change the viewing times," he added.