*AUTO RACING: Carl Edwards rolled to a dominating win at Phoenix International Raceway that staved off Kyle Busch’s bid to clinch the Nationwide Series title. Busch overcame an early accident to finish ninth but will have to wait until next week’s finale to wrap up his first NASCAR championship.
*HOCKEY: The Wolves battled back from a 2-1 deficit in the third period and Brett Sterling netted the overtime winner to push the Wolves past the Texas Stars 4-3 in Austin.
*SOCCER: In the first leg of European playoffs for World Cup berths, France won 1-0 at Ireland on a deflected goal by Nicolas Anelka, Portugal beat visiting Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 on a goal by Bruno Alves, Russia won 2-1 at home against Slovenia as Diniyar Bilyaletdinov scored twice and Greece was held to a 0-0 tie by visiting Ukraine. … New Zealand reached the World Cup for the first time since 1982, with Cameroon and Nigeria also qualifying in Asian and African qualifying. Emad Meteab’s goal in the fifth minute of second-half injury time for Egypt forced a tiebreaker playoff for a berth with a dramatic 2-0 victory over Algeria. … Marek Hamsik converted a penalty kick in the 26th minute to give Slovakia a 1-0 win over the United States in a friendly played in Bratislava, Slovakia.
*TENNIS: Novak Djokovic overpowered Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-3 to reach the Paris Masters final for the first time. Djokovic will face Gael Monfils. He advanced to the final with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over Radek Stepanek. Djokovic is 3-0 overall against Monfils.
*SKIING: Maria Riesch of Germany won the opening women’s World Cup slalom in Levi, Finland, edging Lindsey Vonn by 0.08 seconds.
*SWIMMING: Michael Phelps finished fifth in the 200-meter butterfly at a short-course World Cup meet in Berlin that featured six world records. Nikolay Skvortsov of Russia, who had the fastest qualifying time, won the final in 1:50.58. Phelps squeezed in as the eighth and last qualifier in the heats. … German Steffen Deibler broke his own 50-meter butterfly short-course world record. Deibler clocked 21.80 seconds to shatter the mark of 22.06.
*BOXING: Five-time world champion Shane Mosley will end one of the longest unforced layoffs of his career when he and Andre Berto square off in a welterweight showdown Jan. 30 at the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino in Las Vegas.
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EDITED BY BOB FOLTMAN FROM TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICES
