Sports briefs: San Jose beats Los Angeles in first leg of soccer playoff

soccer • Victor Bernadez scored on a free kick deep into stoppage time Sunday night in Carson, Calif., to lift the San Jose Earthquakes to a 1-0 triumph over the Los Angeles Galaxy in the opener of their Western Conference semifinal series.

The second leg in the aggregate series is Wednesday in Santa Clara with the winner advancing to a home-and-home matchup with the Seattle Sounders or Real Salt Lake for a berth in the Dec. 1 MLS Cup final. RSL and Seattle play the second leg of their semifinal Thursday in Sandy.

• Adam Moffat and Will Bruin scored for host Houston to give the Dynamo a 2-0 win over Sporting Kansas City in the first leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The second leg is at Wednesday night in Kansas City.

Raikkonen wins Abu Dhabi GP

Auto racing • Kimi Raikkonen won a crash-filled Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday in the United Arab Emirates for his first victory since returning to Formula One this year.

Raikkonen, the 2007 champion who returned to F1 after rally driving for a year, held off Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who finished second. Two-time defending F1 champion Sebastian Vettel clawed back from last to finish third, his series lead over Alonso cut to 10 points with two races remaining.

Jones gets spot on World Cup team

BOBSLEDDING • Lolo Jones' international bobsled debut will come at the sport's highest level — the World Cup circuit. The Olympic hurdler was one of three women's push athletes selected to compete for the U.S. in this weekend's World Cup opener at Lake Placid, N.Y. Jones, who tried the sport for the first time just last month, will be in the back of USA-3 with Jazmine Fenlator as her pilot.

Last month, Jones was one of six push athletes chosen for the women's national team. That did not guarantee her a spot in a World Cup event, though after the final race-off data was calculated on Sunday night, Jones had her spot.

The U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation is expected to release the full team lineup, including pairings for the men's sleds, on Monday.

Ferrer claims first Masters crown

TENNIS • David Ferrer beat Polish qualifier Jerzy Janowicz 6-4, 6-3 to win the Paris Masters, clinching the first Masters title of his career. The fourth-seeded Spaniard lost his three previous Masters finals — twice to Rafael Nadal and once to Andy Murray — but this time he didn't have a Grand Slam winner in front of him and never looked in danger. The 69th-ranked Janowicz made an incredible run to the final, eliminating five top-20 ranked players in a row, including third-ranked Andy Murray.

• Nadia Petrova stunned top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-1 to win the Tournament of Champions in Sofia, Bulgaria, clinching her third WTA title of the year.

From wire report