Sports round-up

Tennis: Second seed Maria Kirilenko battled from a set down to defeat Sabini Lisicki in the final of the WTA PTT Pattaya Women’s Open in Thailand. The 26-year-old Russian overcame the fifth-seeded German 5-7 6-1 7-6 (7/1) in Pattaya City in two hours 37 minutes. The victory handed the world number 15 her sixth WTA Tour title.

Cricket: Seamer Mitchell Starc grabbed a second successive five-wicket haul and George Bailey his maiden international century as Australia beat West Indies by 54 runs in the second one-dayer at the WACA yesterday. West Indies put up a better fight than in the nine-wicket defeat in Friday’s opener but Bailey’s unbeaten 125 pushed Australia to 266 for seven and Starc (5-32) helped dismiss the islanders for 212 to give the hosts a 2-0 series lead.

Basketball, NBA: The San Antonio Spurs have continued their supremacy in the NBA, beating Washington 96-86 on Saturday for a 10th successive victory. The Spurs dominated the first half, leading 51-26 at the break, before easing the tempo in the second to improve to an NBA best 38-11, confining the Wizards to an equal league worst 11-35 in the process. It was not all good news for the Spurs who lost All-Star Tim Duncan to knee and ankle sprains in the first half after he became tangled with Martell Webster.

Athletics: Teenage Ethiopian distance runner Hagos Gebrhiwet and US Olympic pole vault champion Jenn Suhr surged to the best performances of the year in winning their specialties at the Boston Indoor GP on Saturday. The 18-year-old world junior 5,000m record holder outran American Galen Rupp and fellow Ethiopian Dejen Gebremeskel to win the featured 3,000m in seven minutes, 32.87 seconds, beating American Bernard Lagat’s time of 7:34.71 set hours earlier in Karlsruhe, Germany. Suhr soared 4.76 metres on her first attempt before missing twice at an American record 4.90 metres.

Golf: Record crowds of more than 179,000 at the Phoenix Open on Saturday had plenty to celebrate during an action-packed third round as their favourite son, Phil Mickelson, charged into a commanding six-stroke lead. Twice champion Mic-kelson, who attended the nearby Arizona State University, piled up seven birdies in a flawless seven-under-par 64 at the sun-splashed TPC Scottsdale to strengthen his hold on the PGA Tour event. FedExCup champ-ion Brandt Snedeker was alone in second at 18 under after shooting a 65.