Rallying: France’s Sebastien Ogier took his second successive world rally championship title for Volkswagen yesterday after winning the Rally of Spain. Ogier, who had led for most of the four-day event, beat Finnish team mate Jari-Matti Latvala by 11.3 seconds to retain the title with one round remaining. The Frenchman now has 242 points to Latvala’s 211. “It was my target at the start of the year to prove my title last year wasn’t a one-off and I’ve done it,” said Ogier. “I’m so happy.”

Tennis: Zimbabwe’s Cara Black and Sania Mirza of India teamed up to win the doubles title at the WTA Finals in Singapore yesterday. The pair easily beat the defending champions, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai of China, 6-1 6-0, reeling off 12 games in a row after dropping the opening game. For Black, it was her third win in the elite event, and her first since she returned to the sport after taking time out to have a child. The 35-year-old doubles specialist previously won with Liezel Huber in 2007 and 2008. She and Mirza, who shared $500,000 for winning the title, only teamed up a year ago but are parting ways after the tournament.

Golf: Australian teenager Antonio Murdaca clinched a dream berth at the US Masters after winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship with a stunning seven-stroke win in Melbourne yesterday. The Adelaide-born 19-year-old tore up Royal Melbourne’s famed sandbelt course to upstage a field dripping with Asian talent, including China’s Guan Tianlang, who won the 2012 event to become Augusta’s youngest ever qualifier at the age of 14. A two-time national junior champion, Murdaca took an eight-stroke lead into the final round and gave his opponents no hope as he carded a one-under 71 to finish with a 13-under total of 275, seven ahead of Japan’s Horikawa Mikumu.

Motor Sport: Argentina’s Jose Maria Lopez became the first non-European winner of the World Touring Car Championship title yesterday. The 31-year-old from Rio Tercero, competing in his maiden WTCC campaign for Citroen Racing alongside decorated team-mates Yvan Muller and Sebastien Loeb, produced the perfect display to win race one at Suzuka. Lopez made a fine start and led from the outset, virtually securing the crown on lap seven when Muller suffered a puncture. Britain’s Tom Chilton (ROAL Chevrolet) took second position, ahead of Frenchman Loeb. The win was Lopez’s ninth this year, equalling Muller’s 2012 record for the most wins in a season.

Boxing: Stuart Hall saw his dreams of becoming IBF bantamweight champion for a second time go up in smoke as Randy Caballero claimed the vacant belt with a points win over the Darlington fighter in Monte Carlo. Hall lost the title in his last fight earlier this year to domestic rival Paul Butler, who promptly vacated the belt which gave the 34-year-old a chance to immediately become a two-time world champion. But Hall was largely outclassed by his unbeaten American opponent and was knocked down in the second round on the way to a points loss, with two judges seeing it 116-111 and the third giving it to Caballero by a slightly generous 118-110 margin.

Swiss Indoors: Roger Federer’s charge towards the world No 1 slot continued with the 33-year-old winning the Swiss Indoors final in Basle. Federer beat Belgium’s David Goffin 6-2 6-2 in a match lasting less than 52 minutes. Federer has now won his last 12 matches on the bounce and has world no. 1 Novak Djokovic in his sights. The Swiss is fewer than 500 points behind the Serb and the champion of this week’s Paris Masters will claim 1,000 points – and a big step towards deciding which player will end the year at the top.

Valencia Open final: Murray bt Robredo 4-6 7-6 7-6.

Cricket: Pakistan spinners Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah took nine wickets in the second innings as the hosts beat Australia by 221 runs in the first test yesterday to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. Australia, resuming on 59 for four, put up stiff resistance throughout the fifth day and managed to drag the match into the final session but were finally all out for 216. Left-armer Babar took his maiden five-wicket haul in his third test match.

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