Great Briton: Murray climbs to No. 6

One point away from his first Masters series championship, Andy Murray let the moment get to him. Britain's top player wasted four match points with an uncharacteristic show of sloppiness in the second set yesterday. Forced to play another tiebreaker, he pulled off the best shot of the game - an in-the-corner backhand - that set up a 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) win over Novak Djokovic for the Cincinnati Masters title in Mason, Ohio. Murray's 2-hour-22-minute victory ended a $2.6 million ATP Western & Southern Financial Group Masters that will be remembered more for what it did to the world rankings. Rafael Nadal lost to Djokovic in the semifinals, but piled up enough rankings points during the week to finally wrest the No. 1 spot from Roger Federer in two weeks. Federer has led the rankings since Feb. 2, 2004, with Nadal right behind him for the last three years. The win was a highlight of the best summer of Murray's career. He also reached his first major quarterfinal at Wimbledon. When the next rankings come out today, Murray will move up to a career-best No. 6.

Dinara Safina won her second straight tournament, defeating Dominika Cibulkova, 6-2, 6-1, to capture the Rogers Cup in Montreal and improve her record since May to 27-3. Safina, a 6-foot Russian, had a 9-inch height advantage over the 19-year-old Slovak. The seventh-seeded Safina, who won a tournament a week earlier in Carson, Calif., is expected to move from eighth to a career-high seventh in the world rankings . . . Caroline Wozniacki routed Vera Dushevina, 6-0, 6-2, to win the Nordic Light Open in Stockholm.

The New York Mets, who have lost four straight games, will be without one of their starting pitchers for a couple weeks and may be missing their closer for a while as well. John Maine was placed on the 15-day disabled list yesterday. He left Monday's game in Florida after 4 1/3 innings because of pain in his shoulder and was diagnosed Tuesday with a mild strain in his right rotator cuff. Billy Wagner, who has a strained left forearm, said he felt pain in his arm Tuesday, when he earned his 27th save with a scoreless ninth in the Mets' 4-1 win over Florida. He blew a save chance Saturday night and said his arm felt strong, but he struggled to locate his pitches. The Mets didn't make a move with Wagner but the lefthander was unavailable for their game against Houston yesterday and will have his second MRI in two weeks tomorrow . . . Cubs closer Kerry Wood threw 30 pitches to hitters from the Wrigley Field mound but probably will not return from a blister on his right index finger until later this week. Sidelined since July 11, Wood had hoped to return from the disabled list during Chicago's upcoming series against Houston. Instead, manager Lou Piniella said he likely will not be activated until the Cubs host St. Louis this weekend. Piniella said the righthander felt no pain and probably wouldn't need a minor league rehab stint.

Rafael Soriano may be running out of opportunities to try to pitch this season without pain in his right elbow. Soriano, who began the season as the Braves' closer, will return to the disabled list for the third time this season with inflammation in the elbow. The team will purchase the contract of lefthanded reliever Francisley Bueno from Triple A Richmond. Soriano had pain in his right elbow in spring training and has complained of ongoing discomfort, even though tests have found no structural damage. He felt more pain Saturday when he gave up a two-run homer to Prince Fielder. He suffered his first loss of the season when he gave up an unearned run on a hit and a walk Tuesday against St. Louis. Soriano is 0-1 with a 2.57 ERA and three saves in 14 games . . . The Braves will get catcher Brian McCann back tonight after he missed a week with a mild concussion. Lefthander Tom Glavine, who has been out since June 11 with a torn flexor tendon in his left elbow, will begin his injury rehabilitation assignment with Myrtle Beach today . . . Mariners starter Erik Bedard tested his balky left shoulder, throwing in the outfield for about 10 minutes. Bedard had not thrown on the field since July 4, when he threw 99 pitches over five innings in a win over Detroit. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list July 10 with a tight shoulder, and an MRI showed no additional damage in his pitching shoulder . . . What seemed a harmless foul ball could be a little more serious for Baltimore center fielder Adam Jones, who fouled a ball off his left foot during Saturday night's game against Seattle and woke up yesterday unable to walk on it. Results of X-rays on his foot were inconclusive. Jones will have a CT scan on his foot today . . . Ian Kennedy struck out six and allowed two runs over seven innings as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees beat the host Pawtucket Red Sox, 5-2.

The Braves said longtime broadcaster Skip Caray, the son of famous Chicago Cubs voice Harry Caray, died in his sleep in his Atlanta home. He was 68 years old. He had several ailments in the last year but had recovered enough to continue calling home games at Turner Field. Caray was in the middle of his 33d season with the Braves.

Real Madrid midfielder Wesley Sneijder appears likely to miss the start of his team's Spanish league title defense after injuring his knee in a 1-0 preseason loss at Arsenal. The Netherlands international player, a halftime substitute, had been on the field for only 16 minutes when he fell after a clumsy challenge by Abou Diaby. Manager Bernd Schuster said Sneijder might have damaged knee ligaments. Emmanuel Adebayor scored the game's only goal . . . Five-time Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe will pursue legal proceedings against a French newspaper and journalist (Damien Ressiot) he alleges defamed him by publishing claims he used performance-enhancing drugs. The New South Wales Supreme Court set a date of Sept. 22 for lawyers on both sides to meet.