After a 24-year wait, the English league title could be on its way back to Liverpool.

A 4-0 win over Tottenham on Sunday saw Liverpool overtake Chelsea and become the new Premier League leader in a close fight for the title.

Novak Djokovic stretched like a rubber band to hit a backhand. He sprinted into the other corner and scooped out forehands as if he was wielding a shovel. He ran forward to slice a ball off his shoetops. And he flicked a difficult half-volley past a weary Rafael Nadal for a winner.

That was just on the last point.

Six past winners, three domestic league leaders and many of the world's best players take their places this week in one of the strongest quarterfinal lineups in the 22-year history of the Champions League.

There appears to be no weak link in the last eight, with Manchester United unlikely to be written off by quarterfinal opponent and reigning champion Bayern Munich despite a disappointing Premier League season in the post-Alex Ferguson era.

Mao Asada of Japan won the free skate on Saturday to capture her third world figure skating title.

Asada, who held a slim 1.42-point lead after the short program, under-rotated three jumps but finished with 216.69 points, 9.19 ahead Julia Lipnitskaia of Russia.

Former world champion Lewis Hamilton avoided crashes and shrugged off a torrential downpour to claim a British record-equaling 33rd pole position at a thrilling Malaysian Grand Prix qualifier on Saturday.

In a session which had nearly an hour's rain delay, and was twice suspended for crashes on the slippery Sepang circuit, the Mercedes driver came out on top ahead of surging world title-holder Sebastian Vettel.

European champions Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte of Italy held on to their overnight lead to win the world ice dance title by just two hundredths of a point Saturday.

Canada's Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje finished second and Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France third, just 0.06 points off the winners at the world figure skating championships in Saitama, Japan.

Marouane Fellaini has insisted he did not spit at Pablo Zabaleta during this week's Manchester derby at Old Trafford.

Following United's 3-0 defeat on Tuesday, footage emerged on the YouTube website appearing to show midfielder Fellaini spitting near Zabaleta's head while the City defender was on the turf following a clash between the pair.

LeBron James notched his first triple-double of the season to lead the short-handed Miami Heat to a 110-78 NBA rout of the Detroit Pistons on Friday.

James scored 17 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and handed out 12 assists for the 37th triple-double of his career but his first of the current campaign.

Manuel Pellegrini has challenged his Manchester City stars to use the momentum from their demolition derby to pile on the misery for title rivals Arsenal on Saturday.

City's ruthless 3-0 win at struggling rivals Manchester United on Tuesday took them to within three points of Chelsea and with two games in hand, they are the bookmakers' favorites to finish the campaign on top of the pile.

Under-fire Manchester United manager David Moyes has risked fresh controversy by suggesting his celebrated predecessor Alex Ferguson would have struggled with the squad he left his fellow Scot.

Moyes was hailed as the “Chosen One” for being the hand-picked successor to Ferguson, who retired as British football's most successful manager at the end of last season.