Britain's world number four Andy Murray celebrated his 25th birthday on Tuesday with a hard fought 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 victory over veteran Argentinian David Nalbandian to reach the third round of the Rome Masters.

The day session match which ended well into the intended start of night play for top-seeded holder Novak Djokovic, was a struggle for survival on the clay between the pair, with Murray recovering from a break down in the third.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt, who is battling back from foot surgery, was Wednesday handed a wildcard into the main draw of this month's French Open.

The 31-year-old, who reached the fourth round of the Australian Open in January, has made a speedier recovery than expected from the operation in February and has been training well on clay.

Japan international Shinji Kagawa revealed Wednesday that he had met Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, as rumors swirl that the Borussia Dortmund star is eyeing a move to the Premier League.

The midfielder said the Scot, one of football's most successful managers, had "good words" to say about him during two hours of talks in Manchester this week.

The president of the Syrian Olympic Committee says the war-torn country will send 20 sports officials and 10 athletes to the London Games.

Gen. Mowaffak Joumaa says 10 Syrian athletes have either qualified or received wild-card invitations to compete in swimming, track and field, weightlifting, boxing, equestrian, and shooting during the games.

Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh has been sidelined indefinitely with a strained abdominal muscle and his teammates are not expecting him to return in their ongoing NBA playoff series against Indiana.

The NBA team announced Bosh's status on Monday after the results of an MRI exam were studied.

Carlos Tevez landed himself in fresh controversy when he was pictured waving a mocked-up tombstone for Sir Alex Ferguson during Manchester City's Premier League title celebrations.

The 28-year-old Argentina striker held up a banner designed to look like a gravestone and bearing the words 'RIP Fergie' as City celebrated their title triumph over Manchester United during an open-top bus parade.

"Welcome to the most extreme golf in the world," says the European Union ambassador to Afghanistan, as half-a-dozen heavily armed bodyguards fan out around him and scan the Kabul Golf Club course.

But Vygaudas Usackas is not talking about security threats facing golfers in a war zone -- he's talking about the course.

Veteran midfielder Paul Scholes signed a one-year contract extension with Manchester United on Monday, manager Sir Alex Ferguson revealed.

The 37-year-old came out of retirement in January and put in some excellent performances to earn himself another year at the only club he has played for and for whom he made his first-team debut in 1993.

Russell Westbrook scored a game-high 27 points and Kevin Durant had 25 points as Oklahoma City embarrassed the Los Angeles Lakers 119-90 in their NBA Western Conference second-round playoff series opener.

"We are a good team, especially at home," Westbrook said. "I just tried to come out aggressively and get some good legs under me."

Evan Turner scored the go-ahead layup and drained a couple of key free throws down the stretch as Philadelphia held on for a 82-81 win over Boston to even their Eastern Conference playoff series at 1-1.

Turner drove to the basket, got knocked down but still made the layup as he was falling under the basket to give the upstart Sixers a 76-75 lead 40 seconds left in the fourth.