Moscow - The presidents of France and Russia telephoned Saturday in preparation for the resumption of talks about closer ties between Russia and the European Union, the Interfax news agency reported Saturday.

The EU suspended those talks on a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement after Russia's war with Georgia this summer.

But officials from France, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, have given signs that the talks are set to resume and that a timetable for further talks could be laid out at a November 14 meeting in Nice.

Paris - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga eliminated James Blake from the race to the year-end championships while insuring a spot for Argentine Juan Del Potro with a Saturday victory into the final of the Paris Masters.

Australian Open finalist Tsonga became the first Frenchman since Sebastien Grosjean, the 2001 winner, to figure in a final at the Bercy arena as he defeated Blake 6-4, 6-3.

The result sends Tsonga into a Sunday title match against Argentine defending champion David Nalbandian, who advanced over Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 in two hours.

Sao Paulo - Ferrari's Felipe Massa took pole position for for Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit in qualifying Saturday while championship leader Lewis Hamilton starts from fourth on the grid.

Massa registered a time of 1 minute 12.368 seconds for the 4.309- kilometre circuit to claim a third pole in succession at his home GP while Toyota's Jarno Trulli caused a major surprise by taking the second spot on the front row in 1:12.737 minutes.

London - Nicolas Anelka netted a hat-trick as Chelsea crushed Sunderland 5-0 on Saturday to go top of the English Premier League table on goal difference.

Alex and Frank Lampard scored the other goals to lift Chelsea alongside Liverpool on 26 points, but with a better goal difference. Liverpool can regain the lead if they avoid defeat in the day's late match at Tottenham Hotspur.

Champions Manchester United edged out high-flying Hull City 4-3 to go third above Arsenal, who were stunned 2-1 at lowly Stoke City.

Kassel, Germany - German-Croat author Marica Bodrozic was awarded the German Language Culture Prize on Saturday.

Hamburg - Hoffenheim thrashed Karlsruhe 4-1 to reclaim the top spot in the Bundesliga on Saturday, while champions Bayern Munich grabbed a 3-1 win over Arminia Bielefeld to move to third.

Bosnia-Herzegovina striker Vedad Ibisevic and Nigerian Chinedu Obasi eached bagged two as Hoffenheim swept to a fifth successive victory.

It puts Rolf Rangnick's side onto to 25 points from 11 games, one more than Bayer Leverkusen, who had gone top overnight after defeating Wolfsburg 2-0.