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Mickelson holds off Els, wins in Shanghai

SHANGHAI, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Phil Mickelson held off Ernie Els, whose course-record-tying effort Sunday made for a dramatic finish, and won the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai.

Mickelson shot 3-under-par 69 Sunday and finished the tournament at 17-under 271. Els bogeyed the final hole but still had a final-round 63 for a 72-hole score of 15-under while Ryan Moore came in third at 14-under.

Tiger Woods, playing in the final group with Mickelson, was 4-over through eight holes but fought back to even par on the day. He finished at 12-under in a tie for sixth place.

Els had an eagle at the par-5 eighth hole that put him at 6-under on the round. He kept his charge going with four birdies on the back nine, including at the par-3 17th, which put him into the lead.

But he put his second shot at 18 in the water and took a bogey 6 on the hole.

Mickelson had two birdies and two bogeys on the front side but was much more consistent on the closing nine, posting three birdies and six pars.

He put the title away when he hit his tee shot on the 17th within 9 feet and made the birdie putt.

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Italy, behind Pennetta, wins Fed Cup title

REGGIO CALABRIA, Italy, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Flavia Pennetta defeated American Melanie Oudin in straight sets Sunday, giving Italy the Fed Cup championship.

Pennetta's 7-5, 6-2 win over Oudin put the Italians up 3-0 in the best-of-five series and locked up a second Fed Cup title for the Italians. A doubles match victory made the final score 4-0 in favor of Italy.

It was the third finals appearance in four years for the Italians, who won their first Fed Cup in 2006 but lost the finals to Russia in 2007.

The United States, which hasn't won the Fed Cup since 2000, owns a record 17 overall championships.

Pennetta fired six aces and 26 winners at Oudin. She had early breaks in each set that allowed the Italian to control the match's tempo.

Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone put Italy on the verge of the title with wins Saturday. Pennetta took out Alexa Glatch, dropping just four games in the process, and Schiavone beat Oudin, again in straight sets.

Sunday's second reverse singles between Glatch and Schiavone was called off but the Italian doubles team of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci took a 4-6, 6-3, 11-9 decision from Vania King and Liezel Huber.

"These girls are incredible," Italy team captain Corrado Barazzutti said. "They've written another chapter in Italian tennis history. I think they're one of the best teams in the history of Italian sports not many other teams have won two titles in four years. The first victory was extraordinary and this second one goes beyond expectations."

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Djokovic ends Federer string in hometown

BASEL, Switzerland, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer in three sets for the Swiss Indoors title Sunday, denying the Swiss star a fourth straight championship in his hometown.

Djokovic, the second-seed, scored a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory in Basel, Switzerland, his fifth win over the top-seeded Federer in 14 matches on the ATP Tour.

The Serb has won four events in 2009.

Federer had taken the title in Basel, where he once was a ball boy, three straight years and had not lost a set on his way to this year's final.

Djokovic won $432,980.

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Computer glitch delays Oly tix sale

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- The final round of ticket sales for 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics events has been delayed a week after a computer glitch, officials say.

Social media Web sites were flooded with complaints Saturday after would-be online ticket buyers found themselves unable to access the Olympics' ticket-selling site at the appointed time, the Vancouver Sun reported.

Caley Denton, the Vancouver Olympic Committee's vice president of ticketing, told the newspaper there was a problem with the connection between the Web site's "virtual waiting room" and the part of the site where the transactions are actually made.

"It was more of a configuration issue between the virtual waiting room and the site itself," Denton reportedly said. "I haven't had a good explanation yet as to how that happened."

He told the Sun the ticket vendor, Tickets.com, has resolved the problem and that the tickets would go on sale again on Nov. 14.