Defending champion Sebastian Vettel bounced back after a disappointing morning to top the times in Friday's second free practice session for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.

The 24-year-old Red Bull driver and runaway leader of this year's title race clocked a best time of one minute and 24.010 to outpace nearest rival Lewis Hamilton of McLaren by 0.036sec.

Inter Milan captain Javier Zanetti has set his sights on overtaking Giuseppe Bergomi's appearance record for the club and reclaiming the Serie A title.

For the first time in years Inter don't start the new season as favorites but the 38-year-old Argentine says within the club they see things differently.

Unhappy about being sent out to play at the rain-soaked U.S. Open, a trio of tennis stars — Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray — marched from their courts to the tournament referee's office to voice their complaints.

A second consecutive morning-to-evening damp day at Flushing Meadows washed out all but about 15 minutes of action Wednesday, leaving nerves frayed and the schedule in disarray.

Barcelona and Real Madrid are set to resume their domination in the Spanish league this weekend, as their rivals band together to level the financial playing field against the two giants.

Spain's traditional powerhouses recorded lopsided victories in the opening league round and could very well do so again Saturday as Barcelona is at Real Sociedad and Madrid welcomes Getafe in a Spanish capital derby.

A little after 3 p.m. Tuesday, Rafael Nadal settled in at a table in the U.S. Open players' cafeteria and sprinkled some salt on his lunch of salmon and rice.

The day's work for the defending champion was complete, consisting of a 1½-hour practice session indoors at Flushing Meadows instead of his scheduled fourth-round match outdoors, because steady rain washed out all of Tuesday's action.

Spain and Italy sealed their places at Euro 2012 with two qualifying games to spare on Tuesday while England moved closer to next year's finals after beating Wales in a game at Wembley overshadowed by the death of a Wales fan.

David Villa and Alvaro Negredo scored twice as defending champion Spain thrashed Liechtenstein 6-0 to secure top spot in Group I, and substitute Giampaolo Pazzini's 85th-minute strike earned the Italians a narrow win in Florence that clinched them first place in Group C.

Coach Joachim Loew said Germany's last-minute 2-2 friendly draw with Poland has given his players a wake-up call as defensive problems loomed again, while the hosts were left to rue the win that got away.

A 94th-minute goal from Brazil-born striker Cacau spared Germany's blushes in Gdansk on Tuesday and denied Poland a historic first win over the Germans at the 17th attempt after the hosts took a dramatic 2-1 lead in the 91st minute.

Queens Park Rangers manager Neil Warnock on Wednesday dropped the biggest hint yet that the Premier League side are chasing David Beckham.

Newly promoted Rangers, who last month saw ambitious Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes become the majority shareholder, have since consistently been linked with Beckham, who plays for LA Galaxy.

Lebanon came from a goal down to beat the United Arab Emirates 3-1 on Tuesday in the third round of Asian qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.

Lebanon, which was routed 6-0 by South Korea in its opening match in Group B, trailed 1-0 after UAE defender Mahmoud Al Hammadi scored in the 15th minute.

England captain John Terry believes Wayne Rooney is back in the kind of sublime form that could turn his side into serious contenders for Euro 2012.

Fabio Capello's team can take another giant step towards qualifying for the finals in Poland and Ukraine if they defeat neighbors Wales at Wembley on Tuesday and Rooney will be expected to lead the charge after ending his international goal drought in Friday's 3-0 win over Bulgaria.