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Guangzhou to Take on Al Ahli Tonight
In football action here in China,
The final match of this year's AFC Champions League is set to get underway tonight.
Guangzhou Evergrande is at home to the UAE's Al Ahli.
Both clubs come into the final leg of the home-and-home on even terms, having drawn nil-nil in the first match in Dubai.
Al Ahli head coach Cosmin Olaroiu says offense is going to be his club's key to victory tonight.
"To win the trophy we have to score. We know this. And we tried during this period to prepare the team to play in the way that we get the trophy. Of course they have the advantage of home game, the supporters and all environment. But we know what exactly what we have to do."
Guangzhou comes into tonight's match with a depleted line-up.
Evergrande's leading scorer, Ricardo Goulart, has been sidelined from an injury he sustained in the last match in Dubai.
The final of the AFC Champions League gets underway in around 15-minutes time (8pm).
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In about an hour, Round 13 of the English Premier League gets underway,
The early match on the schedule has Manchester United up against Watford.
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In other action,
League leading Manchester City is at home to Liverpool.
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Arsenal, which is tied with City on points at 26, is on the road taking on West Brom Albion.
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3rd place Leicester City is also away at Newcastle.
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Its Bournemouth looking for just its 3rd win of the season at it takes on Swansea.
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Struggling Chelsea entertains Norwich.
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Aston Villa, desperate to pull itself out of relegation, is away at Everton.
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And its Southampton entertaining Stoke.
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Later tonight,
The La Liga's first "El Clasico" of the season will take place tonight, with Barcelona taking on Real Madrid.
Real Madrid head coach Rafa Benitez says his team is ready after coming off the international break.
"Obviously, we'll play against a good team but I have a lot of confidence. I was answering about the training sessions, the commitment of the players, the passion that they will put on this game... So I am quite positive and I feel that we can do really well. It will be a difficult game, for sure, but I think it will be a positive game for the fans all around the world."
It's still unclear if Lionel Messi will be able to suit up for Barca.
He started training this week after sitting out the last 2-months with a ligament tear in his knee.
But it is still unknown if he will be available.
Barcelona currently sits at the top of La Liga, 3-points ahead of Real.
Nadal beats Ferrer in London
In tennis,
Stan Wawrinka is set to battle Swiss compatriot Rodger Federer for a shot at making the ATP Finals in London.
The French Open champion is through after powering past Andy Murray in a hard-fought, straight sets win, 7-6, 6-4 to grab the last semi-final spot of the season-ending tournament.
Wawrinka admits its not going to be easy to get past his countryman.
"It will be a tough one for sure. First I will have to recover from tonight. It was a two hour match and it will be late by the time I get back so not too much time to get ready but we'll see. I'm playing well, he's playing well. It will be a tough challenge but I hope I can play a good match."
The last time the two met was the semi-finals of this year's US Open, which Federer won in straight-sets.
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The other semi-final tonight has Rafael Nadal against world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Nadal comes into tonight's match with an undefeated record at the ATP Finals, having to come from a set down last night to get past David Ferrer, even though he had already secured his spot in tonight's semi-final.
"So for me it was another opportunity for me to compete. And I think I competed well. I won a very tough match. A very good match in terms of quality in moments. And I am very happy. You know, three straight wins against top eight players. So it was great news for me."
Tonight's match will be a rematch of the final of China Open last month, which saw Djokovic thump Nadal 6-2, 6-2 here in Beijing.
A win by Nadal tonight would even their career head-to-head match-ups at 24-victories each.
Badminton: Semi-finals underway at Hong Kong Open
In badminton action from the Hong Kong Open,
The Chinese Mixed Doubles pair of Liu Cheng and Bao Yixin are into tomorrow's final after dispatching a pair from South Korea earlier today in straight-sets.
It could be an all-China final tomorrow in Mixed Doubles if top-seeded Zhao Yunlei and Zhang Nan can get past another South Korean duo later tonight.
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Zhao Yunlei is already assured action on Sunday in Hong Kong, after she and her partner Tian Qing moved into the Women's Doubles Final with a straight-sets win over a pair from Japan this afternoon.
That too could be an all-China final tomorrow if Tang Yuanting and Yu Yang can dispatch a pair from Indonesia tonight.
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There will be no Chinese representation in the Men's Doubles final tomorrow, after Chai Biao and Hong Wei were knocked off by the top-seeded pairing from South Korea in a 3-set thriller.
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China is also being shut out of the women's singles final after 8th-seeded Wang Yihan went down to world number-1 Carolina Marin from Spain in straight-sets this afternoon.
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And in Men's Singles action tonight, its Tian Houwei up against Ginting Anthony from Indonesia, while Hong Kong's Ng Ka-long is into his first-ever Super Series semi-final, but will be hard-pressed to move forward, as he is taking on Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei.
The former world number-1 is through to the semi-finals after once-again knocking off current world number-1 Chen Long last night.
Lee Chong Wei, who is working his way back up the world rankings after his doping ban earlier this year, dumped Chen Long in the finals of the China Open last weekend as well.
Basketball: Golden State one win away from matching best NBA start
In basketball,
The Golden State Warriors are on the cusp of making history.
Stephen Curry had 27-points to lead Golden State to a 106-94 win over Chicago this morning to push the club to a 14-0 start oto the NBA season.
The Warriors can tie Yao Ming's 1993-94 Houston Rockets team for the best start in a season at 15 wins when they take on Denver on Monday morning, Beijing time.
Denver comes into that match-up on the heels of this morning's 114-107 loss to Phoenix this morning.
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While Golden State is poised to make history, Philadelphia is just 3 losses away from making some of its own.
The 76ers are just 3-more bad games from tying an NBA-record 26-straight losses, after they went down to Charlotte 113-88 this morning.
Philly lost 10-straight to end last season, and are now 0-13 to start this campaign.
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Other winners on the day included Boston, Detroit, Memphis, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Dallas, Portland and Toronto.
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Here in China,
It's a day off today in the CBA, with 6-teams set for action tomorrow to start round-8.
Those matches will include Xinjiang looking to maintain the only unblemished record in the league when they take on Tianjin.
Xinjiang, which smacked around Shenzhen last night, is now the only undefeated team in the CBA after Sichuan lost its first to Liaoning last night.
Lester Hudson, who opted to come back to China this year after giving up a multi-year contract with the LA Clippers, had 36-points last night to lead the Dinosaurs to a 114-107 win over Sichuan.
Both now have 6-1 records.
In other CBA action last night,
The Jiangsu Dragons, who are still without the services of Greg Oden, finally won their first game with a 128-112 win over still-winless Foshan.
Oden, who went first overall in the 2007 NBA draft, has been unable to play so far this season after hurting his hand during the pre-season.
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Shandong has moved to 5-2 on the season with a win last night over Fujian.
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And it was Willy Warren with 36-points to lead Zhejiang Chouzhou over Tianjin last night.
Warren, the LA Clippers 2nd round pick in the 2010 NBA draft, signed with Chouzhou this year after playing last year with Chongqing, which is now Beijing Beikong.
Golf: Lydia Ko well positioned to take LPGA crown
In golf,
New Zealand teenager Lydia Ko is well-positioned to finish the LPGA season with a number of accolades, provided she doesn't melt-down in her last 36-holes of the season.
Ko turned in a 5-under-67 on Friday to sit alone in 2nd place at 8-under after the 2nd round of the LPGA Championships in Florida.
The 18-year old sits 4-strokes ahead of South Korean Imbee Park, who is chasing Ko in the year's final tournament for all the big year-end prizes.
These include the LPGA's scoring title, Player of the Year, a one-million US dollar bonus for winning the "Race to CME Globe" tournament, and the right to head into next year as the top ranked golfer on the LPGA.
Meanwhile, the two mainland golfers in the field are sitting well off the pace, though Lin Xiyu did recover somewhat on Friday, shooting 3-under to move to minus-1 on the tournament.
Feng Shanshan's season-ending tournament does not go well.
She struggled again on Friday, and currently sits 6-over on the tournament after carding a 4-over-76 on Friday
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3rd round action is underway at the European Tour's season-ending event in Dubai, with Rory McIlroy well-positioned to take this year's Race to Dubai crown.
Hockey: Price returns to lift Montreal over Islanders
In NHL action from this morning,
Carey Price made 33 stops in his return to the line-up from injury to back stop the Montreal Canadiens to a 5-3 win over the New York Islanders.
Price, the NHL's reigning MVP and Vezina Trophy winner, missed 8-games with a lower body injury.
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At the PGA stop in Georgia,
American Kevin Chappell has a one-stroke lead at minus-11 heading into the weekend at the RSM Classic at Sea Island.
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