Roddick overwhelms Saulnier in SAP Open final

Tennis

Fast start helps Roddick: Top-seeded Andy Roddick of the United States breezed to a 6-0, 6-4 victory over unseeded Cyril Saulnier of France to win the SAP Open in San Jose, Calif.

Roddick became the first to record a shutout set in the final of the event since Arthur Ashe beat Guillermo Vilas in 1975.

"The first set was really good tennis on my part," Roddick said after winning his 16th career title. "I would have to really, really nitpick to find something wrong with it."

Safina succeeds: Dinara Safina of Russia beat second-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 to win the Open Gaz de France in Paris.

Home cooking: Second-seeded Gaston Gaudio beat wild-card Mariano Puerta 6-4, 6-4 in an all-Argentine final at the ATP Buenos Aires.

Johansson prevails: Third-seeded Joachim Johansson of Sweden beat Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 7-5, 6-4 to win the Open 13 tournament in Marseille, France.

Soccer

Donovan passes well: American midfielder Landon Donovan made his first Bundesliga start, showing off clever passing as he helped Bayer Leverkusen stay in the title race with a 2-0 victory over Mainz 05. Donovan had played in previous games in Germany's top league as a substitute.

Donovan signed with Bayer Leverkusen in February 1999 when he was 16 but never got into a game with the club and joined San Jose of Major League Soccer before the 2001 season. He returned to the German team last month.

Real Madrid keeps rolling: Michael Owen and Ivan Helguera scored three minutes apart late in the second half and Real Madrid rallied past Osasuna 2-1 to give manager Vanderlei Luxemburgo a record seventh straight victory since taking over the Spanish team.

Luxemburgo, who got the job in December, surpassed Luis Carniglia's club record for best start by a first-year manager set in the 1958-59 season.

Man U triumphs: Wayne Rooney scored his sixth goal in eight games and Manchester United beat rival Manchester City 2-0 in the English Premier League.

Running

Takaoka wins in Tokyo: Toshinari Takaoka of Japan won the Tokyo International Marathon, finishing in a course-record 2 hours, 7 minutes, 41 seconds.

Harness racing

Rainbow Blue honored: Once-beaten filly Rainbow Blue won a Dan Patch Award as 2004 Horse of the Year, edging male trotter Windsong's Legacy in voting by the United States Harness Writers Association.

Rainbow Blue won 20 of 21 races as a 3-year-old last year and became the third filly pacer to win Horse of the Year. The others were Bunny Lake (2001) and Fan Hanover (1981).

Arena Football League

VooDoo can do: Andy Kelly threw a franchise-record eight touchdown passes and the host New Orleans VooDoo beat the ArenaBowl champion San Jose SaberCats 62-61.

In other games, Chicago edged Colorado 49-48; Philadelphia beat Nashville 59-48; and Dallas defeated Columbus 35-31.

Westminster Dog Show

Prestigious event starts today: Starting this morning at Madison Square Garden in New York, 2,581 dogs will compete at the 129th Westminster Kennel Club show.

A total of 165 breeds and varieties will be judged in seven different groups. Best In Show will be judged tomorrow night.

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