 | Murray faces Federer in Dubai Open final DUBAI WORLD number one Novak Djokovic was beaten for the first time this year when his first tournament since his Australian Open triumph ended in a straight sets semifinal defeat to Andy Murray at the Dubai Open.
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| | Poret, Lemoine excel in Aquabike GP |  DOHA THE French duo of Jeremy Poret and Cyrille Lemoine, Slovenia's Rok Florjancic and French girl Julie Bulteau won the first World Championship heats of the new season at the UIM-ABP Aquabike Grand Prix of Qatar in Doha Bay on Friday.
Frenchman Jeremy Poret won the first of the Ski Division F1 heats by 11.15 seconds on his Zapata from the UAE-based rider Ludo Caumont.
Italy's Emanuele Balzer rounded off the podium places in third and Spaniard Nachete Armillas and France's Jean-Baptiste Botti completed the top five. The UAE's Hamdan al Qubaisi finished 11th, but fellow Emirati Fahad al Mansoori retired after the first lap.
Lemoine won the hotlycontested Runabout category and reached the chequered flag 40.75s clear of Italy's Lorenzo Benaglia after 15 laps of the course. Twentythree of the 25 entrants took part in the race and Kuwait's Yousef al Abdulrazzaq finished a close third. Francoise Medori was fourth.
Khamis al Hosni topped the Qatari runners in sixth position, with Waleed al Sharshani in seventh, Rashid al Manniai in 10th and Thamer Abu Faisal in 11th.
Both Abdullah Ali and Mohammed al Haidus retired on laps five and four, respectively.
... | | | Love leads, McIlroy lurks, Woods back in game |  DAVIS Love matched the course record with a 64 on Thursday to seize a twoshot first-round lead at the Honda Classic over a group led by Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy.
As 14-time major champion Tiger Woods again found it tough to get putts to drop, Love avoided any putting problem completely at the 197-yard fifth hole, where he made a hole-inone.
The 47-year-old US Ryder Cup captain capped his round with birdies at 17 and 18 as his six-under effort on the par-70 course put him in position to challenge for his first US PGA Tour title since Disney in 2008.
He became the 10th player to shoot 64 at PGA National, the first since Graeme McDowell last year.
"If I had not birdied the last two holes, it still would have been a good start," Love said. "It's fun to tie the course record. And it's fun to shoot low scores." McIlroy, 22, arrived in Florida with a chance to claim the world number one ranking with a victory.
He won an unofficial event in Shanghai in October and followed up with a victory at the Hong Kong Open a week later.
... | | | Arsenal, Liverpool set for titanic clash |  ARSENAL will attempt to build on the euphoria generated by their demolition of Tottenham when they travel to Liverpool on Saturday in what is a pivotal Premier League match for both clubs.
The Gunners gave their rapidly disintegrating season the kiss of life last weekend when they fought back from 2-0 down to thrash thirdplaced Tottenham 5-2 to regain their place in the top four, at the expense of Chelsea.
It remains to be seen though whether Sunday's dazzling win at the Emirates marks a significant momentum shift for Arsenal or whether it is the latest in a long line of false dawns for Arsene Wenger's men.
A victory at Anfield in Saturday's early kick-off would see Arsenal move to within four points of Spurs, who face a daunting home clash against second-placed Manchester United on Sunday.
However Arsenal's revival could be halted dead in its tracks by a Liverpool side brimming with optimism following their League Cup final win over Cardiff.
Liverpool desperately need all three points against Arsenal to keep alive their hopes of a top-four finish and a place in next year's Champions League.
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