Sports briefs

TENNIS

Murray tops Nadal in Rogers Cup

Andy Murray defeated top-ranked Rafael Nadal of Spain, 6-3, 6-4, in the first semifinal of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

Murray will play the winner of the Roger Federer-Novak Djokovic semifinal today.

Murray used his strong baseline game to knock off the top seed.

He kept the pressure on Nadal throughout the match and kept the unforced errors to a minimum.

Using powerful topspin shots from the back of the court, Murray kept Nadal moving from corner to corner. His slice and cut shots were also effective, preventing the speedy Spaniard from getting into a rhythm. Murray was clearly the aggressor and forced Nadal to play defense for most of the match.

WORLD CUP

FIFA may eliminate ties

FIFA president Sepp Blatter says soccer's governing body will consider eliminating ties in all World Cup games.

Blatter said on Germany's Focus weekly that the dramatic change would make the tournament more interesting. He says the change could involve going to a shootout after 90 minutes of regulation or adding sudden-death overtime.

Sudden-death overtime was used in the knockout rounds of the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. FIFA then reverted to its previous rule of having teams play a full 30 minutes of overtime if tied at the end of regulation in the knockout rounds. First-round games always have ended in draws if tied at the end of regulation- AP