Venus Williams wins WTA Elite Open

ZHUHAI, China (AP):

Top-seeded Venus Williams beat Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 7-6 (6) to win the WTA Elite Trophy yesterday.

Pliskova had a set point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, but Williams hit back-to-back forehand winners to close out the win.

"Seven weeks here in Asia, and now I feel like it's my home," Williams said. "I'm so excited to win the first trophy in Zhuhai. All the players felt so welcome here, and we appreciated all of the enthusiasm."

With her third win of the year, Williams returns to the top 10 for the first time in more than four years.

Ajax draw 1-1 at Feyenoord

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP):

A deflected Davy Klaassen shot earned Ajax a 1-1 draw at arch-rivals Feyenoord yesterday and kept the Amsterdam club on top of the Dutch Eredivisie.

Defending champions PSV Eindhoven overtook Feyenoord to move to second by beating Utrecht 3-1.

Feyenoord, which knocked Ajax out of the Dutch cup less than two weeks ago, took a deserved lead when Dirk Kuyt passed to Sven van Beek, who finished from close range in the 38th minute. Klaassen equalised in the 59th when his shot deflected off Feyenoord defender Terence Kongolo into the goal.

Bradley stops Rios in 9th round of title bout

LAS VEGAS (AP) :

Timothy Bradley won a fight he needed badly Saturday night, stopping Brandon Rios in the ninth round to stake his claim for a title in a welterweight division that is wide open following Floyd Mayweather Jr's retirement.

Bradley (33-1-1) dominated from the opening bell against a sluggish Rios (33-3-1), using his speed and superior boxing skills to win round after round, before suddenly dropping Rios with a left hook to the body in the ninth round. Rios got up at the count of eight, but offered no resistance to Bradley when the fight resumed, and quickly went down under another flurry of punches at 2:49 of the round.