Spain's two-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador stands tantalizingly close to a stunning win in the Tour of Spain, his first major race since returning from a two year doping ban.

But while the 29-year-old - who still protests his innocence over the minute trace of clenbuterol found in his urine on the 2010 Tour de France - is just 28 seconds behind overall leader Joaquim "Purito" Rodriguez, he admits it will be tough for him to claw the deficit back.

Former England striker Michael Owen has joined Stoke City on a free transfer, subject to Premier League Board approval, the club announced Tuesday.

Owen, who made his name at Liverpool before joining Real Madrid, has signed a one-year deal following his release from Stoke's Premier League rivals Manchester United at the end of last season.

Victoria Azarenka kept chiding herself — "Don't be a chicken" — while cobbling together a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (5) rain-interrupted win that eliminated defending champion Sam Stosur and put the top-seeded Belarusian in her first semifinal at Flushing Meadows.

Tuesday's win also assured Azarenka of retaining the No. 1 ranking no matter what happens the rest of this week.

British swim queen Ellie Simmonds broke her own world record twice on Monday, cementing her place as the host nation's Paralympic poster girl in claiming her second gold of the London Games.

The 17-year-old won the SM6 200m individual medley in a record 3min 5.39sec, just hours after beating her own personal and world best in the heats with a time of 3min 6.97sec.

Olympic champion Andy Murray advanced safely to the last eight at the U.S. Open on Monday night.

Seeking his first Grand Slam title after four runner-up finishes, he defeated Canadian 15th seed Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in a night match at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Ana Ivanovic believes Serb compatriot Novak Djokovic could tip the balance in her favor when she takes on red-hot title favorite Serena Williams for a place in the U.S. Open semifinals.

Ivanovic has never beaten 14-time Grand Slam title winner Williams in three meetings, failing even to win a set, with two of those defeats coming in New York in 2006 and 2011.

Tiger Woods has become the first $100 million man on the PGA Tour.

Woods finished third Monday in the Deutsche Bank Championship and made $544,000, pushing his career total to $100,350,700. Next on the list is Phil Mickelson, who finished fourth at the TPC Boston and has $66,805,498.

Egyptian football coach Mahmud al-Gohary, who steered his national team to the World Cup in 1990, died Monday aged 74 after suffering a brain stroke in Jordan, the official MENA news agency said.

Gohary, who inspired a pop song after his name when he took the Egyptian team to the championship in Italy, had been taken to hospital in Amman where he had been managing the Jordanian national team.

Rafael Nadal has a partially torn patella tendon in his left knee and will be sidelined for at least the next two months, including Spain's upcoming Davis Cup semifinal against the United States.

"I have to recover and I'll be back once the pain is gone," Nadal said in a website posting linked to his Twitter feed.

Equaling the record for the latest finish at the U.S. Open, Philipp Kohlscreiber of Germany eliminated John Isner of the United States 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at 2:26 a.m. local time Monday to reach the fourth round.

The official completion time was the same as a second-round match in 1993, when Mats Wilander beat Mikael Pernfors. The latest finishing match at any Grand Slam was the 4:34 a.m. end to Lleyton Hewitt's third-round encounter against Marcos Baghdatis at the 2008 Australian Open.