Michael Phelps posted the second-fastest 200m freestyle time in the world this year Friday, signaling that his preparations for the London Olympics are on track.

"It's crazy what training actually does," Phelps said with a laugh after he cruised to victory at USA Swimming's Columbus Grand Prix in 1min 45.69sec.

World number one Victoria Azarenka survived an opening-match scare to beat Mona Barthel 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6) in a three-hour marathon at the Indian Wells tournament Friday.

The 22-year-old Azarenka appeared headed for disaster, trailing 4-1 in the third set but the unseeded German Barthel could not close the deal.

No new Formula One season would be the same without a raft of complex rule changes prompting teams to try and find any potential loophole in a bid to gain that vital extra miilisecond over their competitors.

For the 2012 campaign, which gets underway in Melbourne on March 18, the most obvious difference to last season is the car's nose - described unflatteringly as resembling that of a platypus.

The Orlando Magic let a nine-point fourth-quarter lead evaporate but toughened up in the waning minutes to claim a 99-94 NBA victory over Chicago that snapped the Bulls' eight-game winning streak.

Dwight Howard finished with 29 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks -- all game-highs.

Hailed as the greatest club side of all time after their European master class, Barcelona face humble Racing Santander Sunday, trying to hunt down Real Madrid, the best team in Spain.

Lionel Messi's record-breaking five goals in the 7-1 Champions League rout of Bayer Leverkusen eased Barcelona into the quarterfinals, but it's Real Madrid who rule the roost on the home front, boasting a 10-point lead going into the weekend.

FIFA will interview the match referee and players during a probe of Bahrain's "unusual" 10-0 win over Indonesia in a World Cup qualifier.

FIFA says it is "proceeding with this investigation as a priority" from security division offices in Jordan and Malaysia.

Six world champions on the grid for the opening Grand Prix of the season represents an unprecedented array of talent for Formula One, yet few would count on anything other than another Sebastian Vettel title this season.

Kimi Raikkonen's return from a year away in rally racing has added one more former champion to F1 ranks this season, joining Vettel, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and Jenson Button.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish will be more than happy if his team maintain their ugly away form at Sunderland.

The Reds manager has been battling a frustrating home record all season and although last weekend's 2-1 defeat to Arsenal was their first loss, Liverpool have won just four of their 13 Premier League games at Anfield.

Rafael Nadal says he's not obsessed with beating Novak Djokovic despite some heavy soul searching after seven straight losses to the world No. 1, the last three in Grand Slam finals.

"I don't have the spirit of revenge. I don't have the spirit of obsession of another player," Nadal said Thursday at the ATP Tour's Indian Wells Masters series tournament.

If the Manchester clubs expected things to come much easier after dropping out of the Champions League, they were in for a real shock on Thursday.

England's two leading teams face a battle to reach the quarterfinals of the Europa League, the continent's second-tier club competition, after United was outclassed in a 3-2 home loss to Athletic Bilbao and City slumped to a 1-0 loss at Sporting Lisbon in the first legs of their last-16 matches.