Alonso wins Valencia GP 2012

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Fernando Alonso became the first man to win two races this year with a spectacular victory in the European GP.

The Spaniard won his home race at Valencia after a series of overtakes and Sebastian Vettel's retirement.
Lewis Hamilton was set to finish second after Romain Grosjean's retirement, but crashed out with three laps remaining.
The Mclaren driver was pitched into the barriers after a tussle with Williams's Pastor Maldonado, handing second to Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen.
Alonso started 11th and fought his way up to fourth place before a safety car was deployed.
He gained third after a pit-stop problem for Lewis Hamilton, passed Romain Grosjean on the restart and saw leader Vettel retire with alternator failure on lap 35.
Battling fading tyres, Hamilton was passed by Raikkonen before Maldonado crashed into the side of him having rejoined the race track after running wide trying to pass the Briton around the outside.
Grosjean retired from second with 16 laps to go with alternator failure - the same problem that caused Vettel to retire.
The frantic action promoted Mercedes's Michael Schumacher to third place - the first podium since his comeback in 2010 - and Red Bull's Mark Webber to fourth from 19th on the grid.
It was by far the most exciting race the Valencia street circuit has ever produced and it was won by a top-drawer performance from Alonso.
BBC F1 co-commentator David Coulthard said: "A truly world class drive - and bitter disappointment for Lewis Hamilton after a tap by Maldonado, who T-boned him after running wide."
Few would have predicted the result in the early stages as Vettel, who started from pole position, streaked away from the field at the front and pulled out more than five seconds in the first three laps.

Vettel controlled the race, building a lead of 20 seconds over Grosjean, before the safety car was deployed on lap 30, with 26 to go, because of debris on the track following a collision between Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen and Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne.

Meanwhile, Alonso was driving one of the best races of his illustrious career, moving up to eighth on the first lap and taking seventh from Force India's Nico Hulkenberg on lap 12.
Two quick laps before his own pitstop while the leaders in front of him made theirs promoted him to a de facto fourth behind Vettel, Grosjean and Hamilton.
All the leaders pitted for a second time when the safety car came out, and Alonso - who had been closing on Hamilton at approaching half a second a lap - gained another place following the latest in a series of pit-stop problems for Hamilton after his front jack failed.
He then passed Grosjean around the outside of Turn 1 on the restart - a move he had used to pass Mark Webber's Red Bull earlier in the race - and then took the lead when Vettel's engine stopped further around the same lap.

"To be honest we don't know yet [what happened]," Vettel said. "I lost drive on the straight down to Turn 17 and I had to give way to the other people. The engine stalled and switched off."

Hamilton's engineers urged him on, believing Alonso's tyres would wear out faster than theirs, but the double world champion was always in control.
The 29th victory of Alonso's career and extraordinary result moves the 30-year-old back into the championship lead, 20 points ahead of Webber. Hamilton is third, 23 points adrift and Vettel fourth, now 26 points - more than a win - behind Alonso.
It was a gripping battle as the combination of the fast-wearing Pirelli tyres and a perfectly judged DRS overtaking zone finally cracked the problem of overtaking at Valencia.
There were fights up and down the field, positions changing and collisions.
Paul di Resta went into the final four laps in sixth place, but his valiant attempt to make only one pit stop left him vulnerable in the closing laps and he lost places to Schumacher, Webber and Mercedes' Nico Rosberg.
Di Resta finished seventh, ahead of Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, Sauber's Sergio Perez and Maldonado, who may well face a stewards' inquiry for the incident with Hamilton.
Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi has been given a five-place penalty for the British Grand Prix following his collision with Felipe Massa, while Vergne has been given a 10-place penalty and £20,000 fine after crashing into Kovalainen.

European GP: Vettel takes pole position in Valencia

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Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel took a stunning pole position at the European Grand Prix.

The world champion was 0.324 seconds clear of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in an otherwise closely fought qualifying session on the Valencia street track.

Williams's Pastor Maldonado was third, ahead of the Lotus drivers Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, with Jenson Button ninth.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Red Bull's Mark Webber were 11th and 19th.
The Force Indias looked like they might challenge at the front but Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta ended up eighth and 10th.
Di Resta admitted that a mistake in the final corner on his final lap cost him the chance to be much higher up.
"I think we wouldn't have been far away but I just locked a wheel," Di Resta said.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was sixth, ahead of Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi.
Vettel's pole was his third in a row at this track, and the 33rd of his career, matching the great Jim Clark and Alain Prost.
Red Bull brought a major aerodynamic upgrade to Valencia and Vettel has appeared to be the man to beat from the outset.
"A surprising gap," he said. "But the boys have been working very hard this weekend to bring a couple of new parts to the car. They seem to work."
Hamilton, who had struggled in practice, said he did not expect to be on the front row. "To be honest I expected to be a lot further back," he said. "We have been struggling all weekend, and we had to make some guesses as to what kind of set-up we wanted and it seemed to work OK.
"The gap is quite big here and it's going to be a tough race here as always."
Webber was unable to take advantage of Red Bull's improved performance after suffering a series of problems on Saturday.
Webber failed to get out of the first session after his DRS overtaking aid failed. He had earlier missed most of the final practice session with brake problems.
"We had no DRS so that's 1.3 seconds," said Webber, who is only nine points off the world championship lead. "Makes it very difficult. The car has put up a good fight today, we only did four laps today and three of these were in qualifying.
"We put on the soft tyres but we were in a desperate situation, we had to try and get through.

"The lap time wasn't too bad with the DRS out. It's a big hit for us, here and Barcelona through no fault of my own, but that's the way it can go in 20 races."

Alonso, who battled for victory in the previous three races, found his car was simply not competitive on the twisty Valencia street circuit.
The Spaniard, two points behind championship leader Hamilton, was just over 0.2secs off the pace in the second part of qualifying, but that was good enough only for 11th place on the grid.
Button was nearly 0.4secs slower than Hamilton and said he struggled with locking his front brakes on his final run and was pessimistic about being able to make any progress in the race.
"We're in Valencia, not a lot happens here in the race. You can't overtake around here.
"If you get it right on the strategy maybe, but the way the tyres seem to hold on for most people it's not going to be the most exciting race. The only person who's will maybe move up is the Lotus in fourth [Grosjean]."
Michael Schumacher was 12th, failing to get into the top 10 shoot-out after being 0.266secs slower than Rosberg in the second session.
Heikki Kovalainen did an impressive job in the Caterham to beat Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne and make it through into the second part of qualifying.
The Finn was not able to make any further progress, however, and will line up 17th.

HRT confirmed the steady progress they have been making in recent races with both their drivers out-qualifying the Marussia of Charles Pic.

The Frenchman's team-mate Timo Glock did not take part in qualifying because he was feeling unwell - the German has been battling a stomach upset.

Drogba seals big-money move to Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua

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Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba confirmed his switch to China's Shanghai Shenhua on Wednesday, a move which will reunite him with former Chelsea teammate Nicolas Anelka.

Drogba announced he would leave Chelsea days after scoring the penalty which beat Bayern Munich in last month's European Champions League final, and the 34-year-old has signed a two-year deal to become the Chinese Super League's latest high-profile star.

The two-time African footballer of the year will reportedly be paid £200,000 ($315,000) a week, which would make him China's highest-paid player.

"I have considered all the offers I have received in the past few weeks, but feel that Shanghai Shenhua FC is the right move for me at this time," said Drogba in a statement released through his representatives.

"I am looking forward to a new challenge, to experiencing a new culture, and I'm excited about the new developments in the Chinese Super League.

"I hope to help promote Chinese football around the world and further improve the links between China and Africa."

Former France international Anelka made the move from Stamford Bridge to Shanghai in January and even had a brief spell as the team's coach following Jean Tigana's exit in April.

Former Argentina coach Sergio Batista is now in charge of the team, and he is looking forward to working with former Marseille star Drogba.

"Drogba is a very good soccer player, his outstanding skills and amazing experience will give us motivation to improve our games," said Argentina's 1986 World Cup winner.

"It is my honor to invite him to join in our team. At last I have to say that the club owner Zhu Jun did his utmost to bring Drogba to Shenhua."

Shanghai is currently 12th in the league, with only three wins all season. But Shenhua owner Zhu is confident Drogba can have a positive impact on results as he seeks his first title since taking over in 2007 -- and the club's first since 2003.

Drogba scored 157 goals for Chelsea in his eight seasons at the club, winning three English Premier League titles, four FA Cups and two League Cups as well as the London club's long-awaited first European crown.

"We have been wanting to sign Didier for a while, and are very happy that it has finally happened," said Zhu.

"He is an incredible player, who has won so many trophies in his career, we feel that his experience and ability will be a very valuable asset to our squad.

"Shanghai is one of the most influential cities in the world, and we are very excited to welcome Didier here."

Drogba and Anelka are two of a number of soccer stars to have joined China's premier football competition.

Italy's World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi is now in charge at Guangzhou Evergrande, an ambitious club who in the last year have signed Argentine Dario Conca and Paraguay's Lucas Barrios.

Hamilton wins Canada GrandPix

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McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday to record his first victory of the Formula One season and move top of the drivers' standings.

Frenchman Romain Grosjean in a Lotus produced an impressive drive to finish second, just ahead of Sauber's Sergio Perez.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel finished fourth, with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso in fifth, which kept the Spaniard just two points behind Hamilton in the title race.

"I never had a doubt in my mind that there would not be a possibility to win," said Hamilton, who is the seventh different winner in seven races this season.

It was Hamilton's third Canadian Grand Prix victory in five attempts, and his 18th from 97 races overall, while teammate Jenson Button was out of the points in 16th.

While Alonso and world champion Vettel opted for a one-stop strategy, Hamilton made two stops but was able to force his way past the Spanish and German drivers.

Hamilton had problems at both pit stops -- almost stalling at the first and then had a difficulty with one of his wheels at the second -- but the British driver recovered to first overtake Vettel on lap 62 and then motor past Alonso three laps later.

As Alonso's tires faded the Ferrari driver slipped down to fifth, but he did manage to hold off Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg.

"Fernando and I took the decision to stay out," said Vettel, explaining Red Bull's race strategy.

"I felt pretty comfortable on the tires and obviously we were hoping to get the place back, but as it turned out it was the right thing to go for the second stop.

"We decided a few laps from the end to do a pit stop -- a stop here is not so long, about 15 seconds -- and in the end it was the right decision.

"Before the stop we were three to four seconds behind Fernando, but we ended up six seconds ahead of him."

Grosjean also adopted a one-stop strategy but with better success than Alonso as he secured the second podium placing of his career, both coming this season.

"It's been a great day for the team. It was an incredible race and the one stop strategy worked perfectly for us. It wasn't an easy race, but we wanted to be aggressive to achieve a good result," he said.

His teammate Kimi Raikkonen was eighth, behind Red Bull's Mark Webber.

Sauber had both cars in the points as Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi was ninth, while Ferrari's Felipe Massa was 10th after recovering from an early spin.

Euro 2012:Germany beat Dutch(2-1)

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Germany inflicted a second-successive Euro 2012 on Netherlands in a renewal of one of football's great rivalries.

These two nations have a fierce history, punctuated by on-field battles that the legendary German captain Franz Beckenbaur claimed had cost him "years of my life".

This latest encounter was no classic, largely because Joachim Low's Germany dominated for the vast majority.

Two superb first-half goals from Mario Gomez took his tally for the tournament to three and put the Germans in complete control.

Robin Van Persie pulled a goal back as Netherlands improved in the second half, but Germany comfortably held on for a second successive victory at this tournament.

Portugal's earlier win over Denmark means that nothing in Group B is yet decided, though Germany need only a point against Denmark to reach the quarter finals, while the Netherlands need something of a miracle to progress.

Mario Gomez scored two stunning goals to earn Germany a deserved win and heighten expectation that Joachim Low's side can win this European Championship.

The Germans took control of a crucial game when Gomez brilliantly collected Bastian Schweinsteiger's pass and spun to slide home a clinical finish.

It was 2-0 before the break as Gomez scored an even better goal. Again Schweinsteiger was the provider, his pass allowing Gomez to escape rookie defender Jetro Willems and fire across Maarten Stekelenburg and into the far corner, his 14th goal in his last 16 international games.

Netherlands were, briefly, ranked the number one team in the world as recently as August but they looked a poor imitation of the side that had reached the World Cup final in South Africa two years ago.

But a game between the two highest scoring teams in the qualifying campaign was always set to see goals and Van Persie's brilliant strike 17 minutes from time breathed life into an ailing game.

The Arsenal striker's touch had previously deserted him at this tournament, but he suddenly looked deadly as he spun away from Sami Khedira and smashed a superb shot past Manuel Neuer with his weaker right foot.

Germany's young side suddenly looked vulnerable, but limited the Dutch to long-range efforts that failed to trouble Neuer again.

Tennis:Sharapova beat Errani to win French Open

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Maria Sharapova overpowered Sara Errani to win the French Open final at Roland Garros for the first time and complete a career grand slam.

The 2012 tournament's surprise package, Italian Errani never came up with an answer to Sharapova's strategy of power and unerring ball placement as the Russian produced 37 winner to secure a 6-3 6-3 victory.

As Sharapova motored into a 4-0 lead in the opening set the final looked as it might be over in the blink of an eye, but Errani got her toe in the match by breaking Sharapova's serve to win the fifth game.

Errani, who is ranked 23rd in the world, showed plenty of grit to save two set points in the eighth game, but when a third set point came up in the following game Sharapova ruthlessly converted.

Italy's Errani refused to capitulate in the second set, but was never able to threaten the Russian's dominance.

As well as strength, Sharapova's quickness of feet was a feature of an impressive performance, notably when she sprinted to reach an Errani drop shot, winning the point to take a 4-1 lead.

Errani saved two match points in a game that the Italian produced a couple of the deftest drop shots you could wish for, but the Italian's resistance was finally ended when the Russian converted her third championship point.

It was the 25-year-old Russian's first grand slam title since she won the Australian Open in 2008.

Since then Sharapova's career has been hampered by serious shoulder injuries that forced her into a long rehab, but her winning form at Roland Garros will also see the Russian move above Belorussian Victoria Azarenka to take the No. 1 ranking slot on Monday.

Saturday's victory ensured Sharapova became just the 10th female player to complete a career grand slam to emulate the the likes of greats such as Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert and Serena Williams.

The Russian won her first grand slam title at Wimbledon eight years ago, before going on to win the US Open in 2006 and then then Australian Open four years ago.

"It's the most incredible feeling," said Sharapova after her win in Paris. "I'm so happy. I've worked so hard for this -- it took a lot to get to this stage and even more to win it. There are so many tough days where you feel like giving up, but you don't. It's been such a journey to get to this stage again."

If Errani's impressive performances at Roland Garros -- featuring wins over two former champions and two members of the top 10 -- might not have had a fairytale ending, those rankings will provide some consolation for the Italian as she enters the top 10 for the first time.

"I don't feel like top 10, but I will be top 10, and it's incredible for me," said Errani, who made only only hit 11 unforced errors during the final. "I really can't believe it. I'm so happy for everything right now."

Victor Sharapova made a point of praising Errani's achievement in reaching the final.

"What an amazing tournament," said the Russian. "I've watched you play the last two weeks and the way you've performed. And the way you played today was extremely difficult for me. I know it was our first meeting, and I hope we play many more times."

Miami, advances to NBA finals

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For the second time in as many years, LeBron James and his Miami Heat teammates will get a shot at the NBA championship after beating the Boston Celtics on Saturday night.

The Heat pulled away late to win the deciding game of the Eastern Conference finals' series by a 101-88 score.

The victory earned the team the right to face the Oklahoma City Thunder, which won the Western Conference title by beating the San Antonio Spurs.

Led by NBA scoring leader Kevin Durant and point guard Russell Westbrook, the upstart Thunder host the series' opener next Tuesday.

Miami entered the conference finals' series as the clear favorites, thanks to the talents of James and Dwayne Wade. The Heat had jumped to a 2-0 series lead, only to see the Celtics storm back by winning the next three games behind the exploits of point guards Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo.

Yet Boston failed to finish off the series last Thursday on its home court, thanks in large part to a 45-point performance by James, the league's Most Valuable Player. That set up Saturday's deciding game in south Florida.

The Celtics led for much of the first half, though the two teams were rarely separated by more than a few points, entering the halftime break up by a 53-46 score.

The Heat chipped away after halftime, going ahead 65-64 with just over 4 minutes remaining in the third quarter. The fourth and final quarter began with the teams at 73 points apiece.

Miami steadily pulled away over the game's final 12 minutes. Big defensive stops and a three-point play with 2:53 left in the game put the Heat up by 12 points and sent the American Airlines Arena crowd into a frenzy.

The Miami Heat entered the league in 1988, finally breaking through with a championship to cap the 2005-2006 season. After a few losses, it emerged as a title contender with the free agent signings of James and Chris Bosh.

It lost last year in the finals to the Dallas Mavericks, and many expected this could be the year it will win its own title. But the team ran into a veteran Celtics team that has its own version of "The Big Three" -- Garnett, Ray Allen and the energetic Rondo.

Boston won the 2007-2008 NBA championship, the 17th in the history of the franchise.