Liverpool beat Newcastle 3-0 to keep title hopes alive

Liverpool beat Newcastle United 3-0 at Anfield on Sunday to maintain their pursuit of Manchester United at the top of the Premier League table and send Newcastle deeper into relegation trouble at the bottom.

A goal off Yossi Benayoun's knee and a diving header from Dirk Kuyt put Liverpool in control in the first half and substitute Lucas headed in the third three minutes from time.

Second-placed Liverpool moved to 77 points with three matches to play. Leaders United have 80 points and four matches remaining. Newcastle, who had Joey Barton sent off in the second half for a wild challenge on Xabi Alonso, remain in the relegation zone with 31 points from 35 matches.

With three games to play they are three points behind Hull City, who occupy the safe 17th spot. Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez said he was happy with the victory but added his side could have scored more goals as they chase their first title since 1990.

"We have to wait for United to make a mistake and just have to keep going and we will," he said after the game. "We have the right mentality and we will keep fighting."

Asked if Barton had deserved the straight red care, Newcastle's interim manager Alan Shearer said: "Yes. He apologised. He is now suspended for the rest of the season. We placed our trust in him and yes we feel let down."

Liverpool, starting the match six points behind United, had skipper Steven Gerrard back in midfield after missing three games with injury, but were without striker Fernando Torres, sidelined with a hamstring strain.

Shearer dropped former England striker Michael Owen to the bench after nine matches without a goal. He came on for the last 10 minutes, got a mixed reaction from his former fans and made little impact on the match.

Liverpool went ahead after 22 minutes, although there was a touch of fortune about the goal. Kuyt provided the cross and Benayoun, who looked to be marginally offside, scored with the ball bouncing in off his knee.

Six minutes later Kuyt escaped Newcastle's defenders and scored with a brave diving header which gave Newcastle keeper Steve Harper no chance. Lucas headed in the third goal which sent Newcastle to their third defeat under Shearer, whose two other games in charge have ended in draws.

Alonso's involvement ended early when he was carried off on a stretcher after being clattered by Barton, back in the side for the first time since January 28.

Nadal wins record 4th Rome Masters title

Rafael Nadal won his record fourth Rome Masters title Sunday, beating defending champion Novak Djokovic 7-6 (2), 6-2. It's the third clay-court title in three weeks for the top-ranked Spaniard, following victories at the Monte Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open.

Nadal extended his winning streak on clay to 30 matches, stretching back to an opening-round loss to Juan Carlos Ferrero in Rome last year. By failing to defend his title, Djokovic will lose the No. 3 ranking to Andy Murray on May 11, when last year's points drop out. The 21-year-old Serb has been No. 3 since August 2007.

Nadal broke an Open Era tie with Thomas Muster, who won three Rome titles in 1990, 1995 and 1996. Jaroslav Drobny and Martin Mulligan also each won three titles before the Open Era.

Chris Evert holds the women's record at the Foro Italico with five titles. Rome is a key warmup for the French Open, which begins in three weeks with Nadal the four-time defending champion.

Nadal broke serve in the opening game of the match but Djokovic had his chances in the first set before losing control for good in the tiebreaker, sending a weak backhand drop-shot attempt into the net on Nadal's third set point. Djokovic then double faulted to hand Nadal a 4-2 lead in the second set.

The match was a far cry from the Monte Carlo final two weeks ago, when Djokovic became the only player to take a set from Nadal on clay this year. The match was played in alternating conditions, with wind swirling around inside the stadium when the sun disappeared for periods behind clouds.

Djokovic started off with a series of errors as he tried to flatten out his groundstrokes and go for winners to end rallies early. As the match wore on, he waited longer in rallies before going for winners with approach shots to the corners.

Still, Djokovic appeared unsure of his tactics at times. On one occasion in the first set, he attempted a serve-and-volley, but then retreated and watched Nadal's winner sail by him, out of reach.

Nadal uncharacteristically missed a few forehands at the end of the first set to let Djokovic pull even at 5-5, but Djokovic then missed a routine backhand into the net to drop his serve again and smashed his racket onto the clay, drawing a racket abuse warning from the chair umpire.

Nadal improved his Rome record to 22-1. His won his first two titles at the Foro Italico in 2005 and 2006 with epic 5-hour victories over Guillermo Coria and Roger Federer, respectively, then beat Fernando Gonzalez in straight sets in 2007.

Nadal improved his tour-best record to 38-3 this year, winning five of the eight tournaments he's entered. It was Nadal's 15th Masters Series title, one more than Roger Federer and two shy of Andre Agassi's record of 17.

Federer beats Zverev to set up clash with Djokovic

World number two Roger Federer fended off a feisty challenge from German qualifier Mischa Zverev on Friday to win 7-6, 6-2 and set up a semi-final against defending champion Novak Djokovic.

Serbian Djokovic eased confidently into the last four with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Argentine fifth seed Juan Martin Del Potro. Zverev, 21, served superbly, attacked the net well and showed character in the first set to save two break-and-set points in a game that was interrupted for a few minutes, apparently because a spectator was taken ill.

He was unable to trouble Federer on his serve, however, and the Swiss eventually took the first set in a tiebreak with a splendid cross-court forehand pass. Federer cruised home in the second set although Zverev had the satisfaction of saving two match points before going out.

Earlier, Djokovic dug up some fine returns to take Del Potro's big serve in the fourth game after an early trade of breaks and went on to seal the first set with an ace. Del Potro saved three match points before firing into the net to let Djokovic through.

Del Potro had Djokovic under pressure on his serve at the start of the second set but, after failing to convert two break points in the fourth game, he dropped his head and his third-ranked opponent ruthlessly capitalised to get another breakthrough.

Later on Friday, world number one Rafael Nadal takes on his sixth-seeded Spanish compatriot Fernando Verdasco for the right to meet Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, the 12th seed, or Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco in the last four.

Nadal advances to semi-finals of Rome Masters

World number one and top seed Rafael Nadal progressed to the semi-finals of the ATP Rome Masters clay court tournament after a gruelling 6-3, 6-3 victory against sixth seed Fernando Verdasco on Friday.

The scoreline did not do justice to a keenly contested match that lasted 1hr 50min and in which Verdasco had more than enough chances to cause an upset. The final statistics told the story of a match in which the former three-time champion Nadal took his opportunities while Verdasco let his slip by.

Verdasco hit 20 winners to just six by Nadal but made more than twice as many unforced errors -- 41 to just 20 from the world's best player. And both men forced six break points throughout the match but while Nadal converted four of his, Verdasco managed only one break.

The 25-year-old sixth seed started badly, double faulting to hand Nadal a break in the opening game. However, he hit straight back as Nadal played a dreadful service game and was broken to love. The top seed soon clicked into gear, though, and broke Verdasco twice more to take the set.

The main difference in the opener was that Nadal was massacring Verdasco's second serve, winning 78 percent of the points when his compatriot missed his first service. In the second set Verdasco had plenty of opportunities to get his nose in front but he missed three break point chances in the first game and two more at 2-2.

Even so, he was trading wilfully with Nadal from the back of the court and but for his high unforced error count he looked capable of beating the king of clay. But at 4-3 to Nadal, Verdasco missed two simple volleys as he gifted his compatriot a break, despite having led 40-15.

He called for the trainer at the change of ends and his knee seemed to be giving him some pain, so it was unsurprising that he wilted easily in the final game. Nadal took his win streak on clay to 28 matches since he was beaten here a year ago in the second round by Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Federer, Djokovic advance to quarters at Rome Masters

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic both advanced to the Rome Masters quarter-finals with routine straight-set wins on Thursday.

Federer avenged last year's quarter-final loss to Radek Stepanek by beating the 16th-seeded Czech player 6-4, 6-1. Djokovic had an even easier time with 13th-seeded Tommy Robredo, winning 6-1, 6-1.

Also advancing were No. 5 Juan Martin Del Potro, No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez, and Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco. Later, three-time Rome champion Rafael Nadal faced Robin Soderling of Sweden.

Federer jumped out to a 3-0 lead before being broken when he served for the first set at 5-3. But the newlywed Swiss player broke right back when he forced Stepanek to hit a low volley that landed in the net.

Federer cruised in the second set, serving his fifth ace on his first match point. But Federer managed to get only 43 percent of his first serves in, and he will likely have to improve to avoid extending his title drought to eight tournaments.

Djokovic needs to defend his title at this clay-court warm up for the French Open
to prevent Andy Murray from taking the No. 3 ranking from him, even though Murray was eliminated by Monaco on Wednesday.

Djokovic began working with Thomas Muster's old trainer, Gebhard Phil-Gritsch, last week, and kept his level high from start to finish against Robredo, despite rain drops falling in the second set.

Djokovic has won his last five matches against Robredo, who leads the tour with 19 wins on clay this year. Del Potro defeated last year's runner-up, No. 10 Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3.

Monaco produced another upset by beating 15th-seeded Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-4, improving to 14-6 on clay this year, including a runner-up result in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in February. He will next face Gonzalez, who rallied to beat net-charging Jurgen Melzer of Austria 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Gonzalez was the runner-up in Rome two years ago and is 10-1 on clay this season. Melzer won 40 of 65 points at the net but dropped his serve late in the third set when Gonzalez hit a backhand return winner up the line.

Gonzalez snapped his racket in half early in the match when he was struggling to counter Melzer's attacking game.