Miller Wins Seventh U.S. Alpine Title

Bode Miller won the U.S. Alpine Championship downhill title Saturday on the same slope where he qualified for the national ski team 10 years ago.

Miller tore down the Narrow Gauge course in 1 minute 15.27 seconds at Carrabassett Valley, Maine, to complete his sweep of national titles in every discipline. Daron Rahlves was runner-up in 1:15.88. Justin Johnson placed third in 1:16.14.

“I’m not very sentimental about anything,� Miller said with a wide smile after collecting his seventh national title over 10 years. “I haven’t been back here in nine years. It’s the first time since our nationals here when I made the team in ’96. Then there were nationals the next year too, and that was the last time [I was here].

“It’s not so different.�

Kirsten Clark won the women’s downhill title. Clark, from Raymond, Maine, clocked 1:19.65 to finish 0.49 of a second ahead of Olympic giant slalom gold medalist Julia Mancuso.

Stacey Cook placed third in 1:20.22 despite having to restart. Cook was flagged off the bumpy course midway through her first attempt when Lindsey Kildow crashed farther down ahead of her. Kildow was uninjured.

TENNIS

Clijsters Feels Rusty, Loses to Craybas

Playing for the first time in more than a month, Kim Clijsters said she felt rusty, and it showed.

The defending champion at the Nasdaq-100 Open squandered leads in the first and final sets and lost to Jill Craybas, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, at Key Biscayne, Fla.

Clijsters became the first woman in the tournament’s 22-year history to lose her opening match the year after winning the title. She double-faulted 11 times and committed 78 unforced errors.

The reigning U.S. Open champion received a first-round bye and was playing for the first time since Feb. 19.

No. 4 Maria Sharapova swept the last five games to beat Na Li, 6-2, 6-4.

On the men’s side, defending men’s champion Roger Federer lost seven consecutive points in a tiebreaker but overcame the uncharacteristic lapse and beat Arnaud Clement, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-0.

No. 4-seeded Andy Roddick, the 2003 champion, lost only two of 28 points on his first serve and beat Alberto Martin in 55 minutes, 6-3, 6-1. Roddick hit nine aces, including one at 142 mph.

No. 9 James Blake was a 6-0, 6-0 winner over Carlos Berlocq, who defeated 16-year-old Donald Young by the same score in the first round.

Unseeded Tim Henman beat No. 13 Lleyton Hewitt for the first time in their nine meetings, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

MOTOR RACING

It’s a Busch Series Victory for Busch

Kyle Busch benefited from Greg Biffle’s late tire problem to take the lead with 12 laps to go and held on to win the Busch series race on a cold, snowy day at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.

Biffle led 28 of the last 40 laps and was headed to the win when a wheel became loose on his Ford and he had to relinquish the lead to pit. As he ducked off the track, Busch slid past him and braced himself for a challenge from Kevin Harvick.

Harvick was right on his rear bumper but couldn’t get by Busch and faded on the final lap. It allowed Busch to coast to his first Bristol win. Harvick had to hold off a late push from Matt Kenseth to hang on for second place.

Marlboro Team Penske teammates Sam Hornish Jr. and Helio Castroneves finished 1-2 in qualifying for the IRL IndyCar Series season-opening race, the Toyota Indy 300, at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Hornish picked up his seventh career pole and second at Homestead with a lap of 218.539 mph. Castroneves was well back in second at 218.087.

Danica Patrick qualified third with a lap of 216.798. Scott Dixon, the 2003 series champion, was fourth at 216.769.

James Stewart won his second straight Amp’d Mobile World Supercross Series race, edging Ricky Carmichael before 40,101 fans at the inaugural event at Detroit’s Ford Field.

SOCCER

Chelsea Puts Away Manchester City

Didier Drogba’s two first-half goals lifted Chelsea to a 2-0 victory over Manchester City to give the Blues a 14-point lead atop the English Premier League standings. With Manchester United playing today, Liverpool moved into second place, beating Everton 3-1, getting goals from Luis Garcia and Harry Kewell, and an own goal by Phil Neville.

Calen Carr scored on a header in the first half at Jackson, Miss., to give the Chicago Fire a 1-0 victory over Chivas USA in its final exhibition game.... Former Argentina star Jorge Valdano and seven others were injured in a helicopter crash in Mexico City. No one was seriously hurt.

Valdano played with Diego Maradona on the Argentina team that won the World Cup in 1986 and was later coach of Real Madrid.

MISCELLANY

Double-Threat Toliver Leads Nashville

T.T. Toliver threw a touchdown pass and caught two scoring passes to help the Nashville Kats (6-3) to a 51-48 win over the visiting San Jose SaberCats (3-6) in an Arena Football League game.

Elsewhere: Joe Hamilton threw four touchdown passes -- three to Jimmy Fryzel -- to lead the Orlando Predators (5-4) to a 47-37 victory over the host Austin Wranglers (6-3).... John Kaleo threw three touchdown passes and scored on two short runs to lead the Columbus Destroyers (5-4) to a 65-21 victory over the Colorado Crush (6-3) at Denver.... Tony Graziani threw a touchdown pass to Sean Scott with 21.8 seconds left to help the Philadelphia Soul (5-4) to a 55-51 win over the host Dallas Desperados (7-2).

Ole Einar Bjorndalen of Norway won a 12.5-kilometer pursuit race at Oslo to clinch a record-tying fourth World Cup biathlon overall title.

Bjorndalen’s 62nd World Cup win was a men’s record and he tied the record of four overall titles.