Sports briefs: Novak Djokovic beats Rafael Nadal in China Open final

TENNIS • Novak Djokovic lost his top ranking to the resurgent Rafael Nadal, but lost no time in gaining some consolation with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the Spaniard to claim the China Open on Sunday for the fourth time in five years.

Nadal was assured of replacing Djokovic atop the rankings by reaching the final in Beijing. But the Serb proved too much for Nadal, breaking him in the second game of the first set and again in the first game of the second. He racked up four aces to the Nadal's two and claimed 19 winners to the Spaniard's nine.

• Top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro beat Milos Raonic 7-6 (5), 7-5 in Tokyo to win the Japan Open for his third title of the season.

Moore leads Lynx to Game 1 victory

wnba • Maya Moore had 23 points, including three 3-pointers in the first quarter to propel Minnesota from the start, and the Lynx delivered a dominant 84-59 victory over the Atlanta Dream in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Sunday night in Minneapolis.

Moore shot 10 for 16 from the floor and grabbed seven rebounds, and Monica Wright pitched in 20 points off the bench.

Angel McCoughtry finished with 17 points for the Dream, but she needed 24 shots to get there, making just six field goals.

Game 2 in the best-of-five series is in Minnesota on Tuesday night, with the best-of-five series shifting to Georgia for Game 3 on Thursday night.

Vettel victorious in Korean Grand Prix

Auto racing • Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel won the Korean Grand Prix in Yeongam to close in on his fourth straight Formula One championship. The German led throughout the race, but two safety-car periods and significant graining on his tires made for a hard-fought win.

He finished 4.2 seconds ahead of Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen, who was just ahead of teammate Romain Grosjean. Vettel now leads the drivers' championship by 77 points with only five races remaining and looks increasingly certain to win the title.

From wire reports