Big Brown bounced back from his last-place finish in the Belmont Stakes by winning the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J.

Big Brown was making his first start yesterday since his Belmont flop eight weeks ago ended the colt's quest to become the first Triple Crown champion since Affirmed in 1978.

This time, the reigning Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner finished with a flourish to overtake 20-1 long-shot Coal Play in the final strides. It was the first time Big Brown had to rally in the stretch for a victory. The colt easily won his first five races by a combined 39 lengths.

Big Brown, trained by Rick Dutrow Jr., beat six rivals and went off as the 1-5 favorite. Winning time for the 1¹/₈ miles was 1:48.2.

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. 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 (4), 7-6 (5) win over Novak Djokovic for the Cincinnati Masters title in Mason, Ohio.

Murray's two-hour, 22-minute victory ended a $2.6 million ATP Masters event 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.

• Dinara Safina won her second tournament in a row, defeating Dominika Cibulkova, 6-2, 6-1, to win the Rogers Cup in Montreal and improve her record since May to 27-3.

• Caroline Wozniacki routed Vera Dushevina, 6-0, 6-2, to win the Nordic Light Open in Stockholm, Sweden, for her first WTA title.

Dismissed Arkansas linebacker Freddie Fairchild faces new criminal charges after police say he ran from an officer and threw away a bag of marijuana. Fairchild, 22, of Little Rock, is charged with possession of a controlled substance and fleeing after his arrest just after midnight yesterday in Fayetteville.

Darren Huckerby scored one goal and had an assist as the host San Jose Earthquakes beat the Los Angeles Galaxy, 3-2, ending an eight-match winless streak in MLS.

• All-Star Kenny Cooper scored on a penalty kick in the 81st minute after Toronto FC's Amado Guevara received a red card, propelling visiting FC Dallas to a 2-0 win.

A lightning bolt struck 91 auto racing fans at a racetrack in Flisa, Norway, and 45 people were taken to hospital with minor burns, police said. The lightning hit a hill where spectators at the rallycross were sitting. Rallycross is a form of sprint-style automobile racing on a closed circuit. The race, a national championship, was called off after the incident.