Manchester United's Wayne Rooney (l) vies for the ball with Debreceni defender Peter Halmosi in their European Champion's League Qualifier 3rd round 2nd leg in Manchester, Tuesday. (AFP Photo)

LONDON, Aug. 10--Manchester United look destined to extend their record run of appearances in the group stage of the Champions League after comfortably beating Hungarian champions Debrecen 3-0 in the first leg of their third qualifying round tie on Tuesday, Reuters said.
There were also first-leg wins for Spanish duo Villarreal and Real Betis, plus Wisla Krakow, Rangers and Valerenga.
The prize for the 16 winners is a place in the group stage of the Champions League, and the millions of pounds that come with it. The losers will have to settle for a slot in the UEFA Cup.
United, winners in 1999, are well used to playing in the group stage having done so 10 times previously, including a record run of nine in a row since 1996/97.
Visitors Debrecen arrived on the back of an 8-0 aggregate victory over Hajduk Split in the second round but they were never a factor at Old Trafford.
Wayne Rooney got United’s season under way with a low shot after seven minutes, Ruud Van Nistelrooy scored the second four minutes into the second half and Cristiano Ronaldo capped an excellent individual performance with the third in the 63rd.
A reduced crowd of 51,701 watched the game, more than 15,000 short of capacity, with many fans boycotting the match in protest at the club’s takeover by American tycoon Malcolm Glazer.
A few miles west tickets were like gold dust for Everton’s return to the continent’s premier competition after 34 years and their first European match since 1995.
However, the occasion ended in anti-climax for the locals with a 2-1 home defeat by Villarreal.
Real Betis left it late against Monaco after missing a host of chances in Seville as Edu struck in extra time to clinch a 1-0 win over the 2004 runners-up.
Scottish champions Rangers, knocked out at this stage last season, look better positioned to go through this time after winning 2-1 in Cyprus against Anorthosis Famagusta with two goals in five minutes midway through the second half by Nacho Novo and Fernando Ricksen.
Valerenga will take a 1-0 lead into the second leg against Club Bruges after Steffen Iverson’s 57th-minute effort gave them victory on the night in Oslo.

MONTREAL, Aug. 10--Paul-Andre Mathieu upset the form book in the first round of the Montreal Masters on Tuesday when the unseeded Frenchman registered a stunning 7-5 6-3 victory over third-seeded American Andy Roddick, Reuters reported.
It was a tough day for the leading seeds, with number two Lleyton Hewitt succumbing to a stomach bug and the top-ranked Rafael Nadal forced to dig deep to earn a second-round berth.
Mathieu, who had lost all eight of his encounters against top-10 opponents this year, matched the big-serving Roddick in the first set before breaking him in the 12th game to take the opener.
He broke Roddick again in the second game of the second set and despite facing break points himself twice in the fifth game, held serve the rest of the match for the victory.
Roddick had won 18 of his past 20 matches, including a victory in the Washington Classic final on Sunday, but the world number four appeared lethargic for most of the contest and could not match the pace and enthusiasm of an inspired Mathieu.
Mathieu will now meet fellow Frenchman Arnaud Clement in the second round after the qualifier advanced with a 2-6 6-3 3-6 victory over Jose Acasuso of Argentina.
Australia’s Hewitt was trailing French qualifier Florent Serra 4-3 in the first set when he had to retire due to stomach pain.
Serra will now play Mario Ancic of Croatia in the second round.
Meanwhile, Nadal of Spain outlasted Davis Cup team mate and close friend Carlos Moya 6-3 6-7 6-3 to advance.
The 19-year-old French Open champion needed two hours and 38 minutes to wear down his practice partner and former world number one. He will face Brazilian Ricardo Mello in the second round.
In other matches, Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain easily defeated seventh-seeded Argentine Guillermo Coria 6-3 6-2.
Ferrero now plays compatriot David Ferrer, a 3-6 6-1 6-2 winner over Fabrice Santoro of France.
Number 13 seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia and 14th seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic were both upset, with Ljubicic losing 1-6 7-5 6-3 to American Taylor Dent and Stepanek falling to Sweden’s Robin Soderling, 6-3 6-4.
Thomas Johansson of Sweden overpowered Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic 6-1 7-5, while Morocco’s Younes El Aynaoui defeated Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 7-6 6-3.

Gold medalist Saif Saaeed Shaheen of Qatar competes in the men's 3000m steeplechase final at the 10th IAAF World Athletics Championships in Helsinki, Tuesday. (AFP Photo)

HELSINKI, Finland, Aug. 10--Saif Saaeed Shaheen retained the world 3,000 meters steeplechase title for his adopted nation Qatar during an evening of thunder, lightning and torrential rain on Tuesday, Reuters said.
Competition was suspended for 90 minutes in the Olympic stadium and the women’s discus final was postponed until Thursday after the pelting rain which flooded the streets of the Finnish capital.
The three track finals were staged at 15-minute intervals, starting with the steeplechase where Shaheen was again too good for his former Kenyan team mates.
Cuban Zulia Calatayud scored an unexpected victory in the women’s 800 meters and Bershawn Jackson won the 400 meters hurdles for the United States after defending champion Felix Sanchez pulled up injured.
Shaheen, who used to compete for Kenya under his original name of Stephen Cherono, won the world title two years ago in Paris but was banned from competing in last year’s Athens Olympics.
He responded by breaking the world record in Brussels at the same meeting where Sanchez incurred the injury that has dogged him for the past year.
On Tuesday Shaheen dominated the Kenyan trio who swept the medals in Athens, holding off Olympic champion Ezekiel Kemboi in a replay of the Paris final to win in eight minutes 13.31 seconds.
In the women’s 800 Calatayud emerged in the final stretch to win in 1:58.82 ahead of Moroccan Hasna Benhassi, with pre-race favorite Tatyana Andrianova of Russia in third place.
Defending champion Maria Mutola of Mozambique, the greatest women’s 800 meters runner of them all who was attempting a fourth world title, finished fourth after leading for the first lap.
The intensive track program concluded with Jackson winning his first major title in 47.30 seconds ahead of team mate James Carter. Japanese Dai Tamesue prevented an American sweep by finishing third ahead of US champion Kerron Clement.
Jackson, nicknamed Batman at high school, missed the Olympics after finishing fourth in the US trials.
After the first day of the decathlon, Olympic silver medalist Bryan Clay of the United States led with 4,527 points ahead of Olympic champion Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic on 4,513.

LOS ANGELES,
Aug. 10--Russian top seed Maria Sharapova shook off the rust of five weeks away from the court to overcome a frustrated Maria Kirilenko 7-6 6-2 in the second round of the JP Morgan Chase Open on Tuesday, Reuters said.
Playing her first tour match since losing to Venus Williams in the semifinals at Wimbledon, an erratic Sharapova mixed pinpoint accuracy on her booming groundstroke with a string of errors forced by her speedy and creative compatriot.
By adeptly mixing her backhand and playing short angles, the 50th-ranked Kirilenko frustrated her off-court friend, but Sharapova continued her assault on the corners and the strategy eventually paid off after a few nervy moments.
The 18-year-old Sharapova needed seven set points to close out the first, wasting four opportunities in the 12th game and three more in the tiebreaker.
Kirilenko was flustered by three questionable calls in the tiebreaker, including consecutive decisions that gave Sharapova a 4-3 lead.
Sharapova went on to take the tiebreaker 9-7 when she blasted a crosscourt forehand too deep for Kirilenko to return.
Looking more like a player on the brink of becoming world number one for the first time, Sharapova was far more efficient in the second set and once Kirilenko received treatment for an elbow strain in the third game, the result was never in doubt.
Still fuming after the match, the 18-year-old Kirilenko was so angry with chair umpire Chris Wilson that she refused to shake his hand.
Sharapova needs to reach the semifinals to overhaul Lindsay Davenport and become the first Russian woman ranked number one but she refuses to be distracted by the prospect.
In other matches, China’s Shuai Peng continued her fine run of form with a 7-6 6-0 victory over Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela in a first round encounter.
She was joined in the second round by compatriot Tiantian Sun, who eased to a 6-0 6-1 win against Maria Fernanda Alves of Brazil.

Sri Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan defends the wicket during the final of the triangular one-day cricket series between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, Tuesday. (AFP Photo)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka,
Aug. 10--Sri Lanka celebrated Sanath Jayasuriya’s feat of completing 10,000 runs in one-day cricket with an 18-run victory over India in the triangular series final here on Tuesday, AFP said.
The left-handed opener, who was 10 runs short of the landmark, made 67 while Mahela Jayawardene top-scored with a solid 83 to help Sri Lanka post 281-9 in the day-night match on a good batting track.
Jayasuriya joined India’s Sachin Tendulkar (13,642) and Sourav Ganguly (10,020) and Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq (10,933) in the 10,000-club.
India were strongly placed at 186-2 before losing their way under lights. They finished at 263-9 despite skipper Rahul Dravid’s impressive 69 and Virender Sehwag’s blazing 48 off just 22 balls.
India, playing their first tournament under their new captain and coach (Greg Chappell), failed to tame Sri Lanka in their own backyard for the second successive time. They lost to the hosts in the Asia Cup final last year.
India got off to an explosive start when they plundered 61 in the opening six overs. Sehwag did the bulk of scoring as he hammered Dilhara Lokuhettige for 26 runs in one over, including one six and five fours.
Veteran left-arm paceman Chaminda Vaas, returning from a hamstring injury to play his first game of the series, provided the crucial breakthrough when he dismissed Sehwag who was bowled off an inside-edge.
Dravid and Yuvraj Singh (42) kept alive India’s hopes of chasing a stiff target with an 84-run stand for the third wicket. They took no risks and relied more on singles and twos to keep pressure on the Sri Lankan fielders.
The match swung in Sri Lanka’s favor when Yuvraj and Dravid fell in the space of 19 runs.
Yuvraj top-edged a sweep to Lokuhettige, while Dravid was run out attempting a risky single after completing his third half-century in five matches of the tournament.
India, who had dropped a batsman to accommodate an extra specialist bowler, choked after the dismissals of Dravid and Yuvraj.
They lost their last seven wickets for just 60 runs to suffer their third successive defeat against the hosts, including two in the league matches.
Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan (2-35), leg-spinner Upul Chandana (2-38) and Vaas (2-38) were the main wicket-takers.
Sri Lanka were indebted to Jayawardene, Jayasuriya and Russel Arnold (64) to post a challenging total after winning the toss.

LONDON, Aug. 10--Arsenal will need to re-discover the consistency which won them a place in soccer history if they are to wrest the Premier League title back from Chelsea, Reuters said.
An already tall order has been made even tougher by the reluctant sale of captain Patrick Vieira to Juventus which left manager Arsene Wenger with a gaping hole in the middle of the park.
Unbeaten champions in 2004, Arsenal’s problems last season were not so much the August start or the May finish--which both brought memorable successes--but the eight months in-between.
They began in typically flamboyant style by burying Nottingham Forest’s 42-match undefeated league record and then stretching it to 49 games before their run - and team morale--were shattered by a 2-0 defeat at Manchester United.
Results went into a tailspin that was compounded by long-term injuries to Brazilian midfielders Gilberto and Edu while another tilt at the Champions League came to nothing.
However, the season ended on a high when Wenger’s men lifted an ill-deserved FA Cup aloft in Cardiff after beating archrivals United on penalties in the final.
Now Arsenal have to take the best of what they achieved last season, headed by the emergence of Spanish teenager Francesc Fabregas in midfield, and add the determination shown in 2003-04 to have any chance of overhauling Chelsea.
The first task will be plugging the gap in the middle where Fabregas should establish himself as the engine of one of Europe’s top sides at the tender age of 18.
The Spaniard showed poise, tactical sense and great distribution despite being thrown in at the deep end last season at 17 due to an injury crisis.
Barring a major swoop in the transfer market, Fabregas will partner Gilberto in the middle with new signing Alexander Hleb of Belarus and sparky young Frenchman Mathieu Flamini available to share the fixture load.
The right flank will again be down to Sweden’s Fredrik Ljungberg or Hleb, with Robert Pires of France on the left.

SPRINGFIELD, USA, Aug. 10--US Open champion Michael Campbell has already proven Tiger Woods is not unbeatable. Now the New Zealander intends to show that he is more than a one-major wonder, AFP said.
The 87th PGA Championship begins here Thursday with Campbell knowing that Masters and British Open champion Woods is the man to beat--just as he was at Pinehurst in June when Campbell beat Woods by two shots to win his first major.
“I showed to everybody and the rest of the world that he can be beatable two months ago,“ Campbell said. “I managed to knock him off his pedestal for a week, which is nice.“
World number one Woods recovered from that defeat to win last month’s British Open at St. Andrews and ranks as a favorite here alongside defending champion Vijay Singh, who beat Woods two weeks ago in a US PGA duel.
“I would not say it’s a two-horse race. I think it’s more of an open field,“ Campbell said. “I think it’s anyone’s game this week.“
Campbell followed up his US Open victory with a fifth-place showing at St. Andrews, sending a message that he would not rest on his laurels after nabbing a major crown.
“Coming fifth at the British Open after my US Open victory was a huge step for me because it proved a point that two months ago wasn’t a fluke,“ Campbell said. “Another strong performance here just reinforces my status as a major winner. “I’m looking forward to more major championships. I think some players sometime are very happy with one major championship but I want more. I want to be a multiple winner.“
Campbell’s great-great-great-grandfather, Sir Logan Campbell, moved to New Zealand from Edinburgh is 1845. Campbell, who now lives in England, made a trip home of his own for eight days to Wellington to celebrate his US Open triumph.