Monte Carlo - Rafael Nadal was due to continue his clay campaign Friday with an afternoon quarter-final against Ivan Ljubicic after finishing off a rain-interrupted contest over Nicolas Lapentti at the Monte Carlo Masters.

Officials at the season clay kick-off were riding a lucky streak of perfect weather before more rain was forecast for the weekend.

Nadal completed a 6-3, 6-0 third-round crushing of the Ecuadorian after getting through only one game on Thursday.

Lausanne, Switzerland  - The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Friday cancelled a fine of 10,000 dollars imposed on Peru striker Claudio Pizarro by his nation's football federation (PFF) for allegedly misbehaving after a 2007 match with Brazil.

The CAS said in a statement that "the facts put forward by the PFF in relation to Pizarro were not supported by concrete evidence" and added that "the incidents reported by the PFF were not dealt with either in the PFF regulations, or in the FIFA regulations."

London, Apr. 17 : Wayne Rooney and his Manchester United team-mates know they are within touching distance of the Premier League title and now have semi-finals in the FA Cup and Champions League.

The Sun quoted Rooney as saying: "We're so close to glory now but just one defeat could shatter our dreams. We have to make sure we stay focused and prepare properly for the games we have left. Over the last few weeks we've had some terrible results - but maybe that has helped by reminding us what we had to do, by getting back to basics and defending as a team."

London, Apr. 17 : England team director Andy Flower may have to consider other employment options if Andrew Strauss were to lose the captaincy, reveals former skipper Tony Greig.

Greig believes everything should be done to avoid a repeat of the Peter Moores and Kevin Pietersen fiasco.

London, Apr. 17 : Hampshire all-rounder and captain Dimitri Mascarenhas has said he would love to lead England in the ICC World Twenty20, especially after learning so much about captaincy from Shane Warne.

Mascarenhas, 31, who is in South Africa to play under Warne for the Rajasthan Royals in the relocated Indian Premier League, was quoted by The Telegraph as saying that he felt he could do a good job especially after a year in charge of Hampshire, after Warne left the county.

London, Apr. 17 : Formula One racing champion Lewis Hamilton will stay on at McLaren.

The world champion pledged his support for the under-fire team's new regime as manager Ron Dennis stepped down from all grand prix activities.

Dennis, 61, insisted his decision to go had nothing to do with McLaren's appearance before motor sport chiefs over the Aussie Liargate scandal.

He said the timing was "purely coincidental" and all about becoming chief executive of their new sports car business.