Soccer: Messi leads Barca win
Lionel Messi scored his 300th and 301st career goals for Barcelona and extended his record-scoring run to 14 league games yesterday in a 2-1 comeback win at Granada, four days before Barcelona’s Champion League last-16 match at AC Milan.
Messi pounced on a rebound of Cesc Fabregas’s strike five minutes after halftime to counter Odion Ighalo’s 26th-minute opener.
Arsenal’s miserable season reached a new low when the team was beaten 1-0 by second-tier Blackburn in the fifth round of the FA Cup, leaving manager Arsene Wenger facing an eighth straight season without silverware.
Humiliated by fourth-tier Bradford in the League Cup quarterfinals in December, Arsenal left to jeers from its own despairing supporters after Colin Kazim-Richards stabbed home a 72nd-minute winner at Emirates Stadium to create the latest big surprise in the FA Cup.
The shocks didn’t end there, with third-tier Oldham grabbing an equalizer deep into stoppage time to draw 2-2 with Everton.
Tennis: Serena tops Sharapova
A day after securing the No. 1 ranking, Serena Williams beat Maria Sharapova for a 10th straight time 6-3, 6-2 to reach the Qatar Open final.
Williams next faces Victoria Azarenka, whom she will replace at the top in tomorrow’s new rankings. Azarenka beat Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 6-3 in the other semifinal, earning her 13th straight victory in 2013.
In San Paulo,
Rafael Nadal outlasted 111th-ranked Martin Alund 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-1 at the Brazil Open to reach his second straight final after a long layoff to treat his left knee.
Nadal next plays David Nalbandian, the former world No. 3 who defeated Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-3, 7-5.
In San Jose, Calif., No. 2 seed John Isner fell 6-3, 6-4 to fourth-seeded Tommy Haas in the semifinals of the SAP Open. Haas will face top seed Milos Raonic, who defeated Sam Querrey, 6-4, 6-2.
Golf: Haas has 3-shot lead
In Los Angeles, Bill Haas had another bogey-free round for a 7-under 64 giving him a three-stroke lead going into the final round of the Northern Trust Open. He was at 12-under 201.
John Merrick
, Webb Simpson and Charl Schwartzel were at 9-under 204. Phil Mickelson is tied for 17th and is at 3-under.
In Naples, Fla., Bernhard Langer shot a 2-under 70 to take a three-shot lead after the second round of the Champions Tour’s ACE Group Classic.
At the women’s Australian Open, Jiyai Shin of South Korea and 15-year-old amateur Lydia Ko both shot rounds of three-under 70 to surge six shots clear of the field heading into the final round.
ETC.: Danica positioned for pole
Danica Patrick topped the second Sprint Cup practice with a fast lap of 196.220 mph, raising the possibility of her becoming today the first female to win the pole for the Daytona 500 on Feb. 24. Patrick’s lap was eight-tenths of a second faster than Joey Logano’s top lap of 195.410 mph.
C. Vivian Stringer failed in her second attempt at her 900th victory as Rutgers fell to visiting No. 3 Connecticut 65-45. The Scarlet Knights next play Tuesday at No.23 Syracuse.