Manchester United missed the chance to start the New Year on top of the Premier League after suffering a 3-2 defeat to Blackburn as Arsenal went fourth after Chelsea crashed 3-1 at home to Aston Villa.

With Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson celebrating his 70th birthday at Old Trafford, the stage was set for United to open up a three-point lead against crisis-hit bottom club Rovers.

When Big Ben strikes 12 to ring in the New Year, no one will feel the level of anticipation — and pressure — more than organizers of the London Olympics.

With the arrival of 2012, the preparations will no longer be for "next year's games."

U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur faces a difficult road in her first tournament of 2012, with Serena Williams, Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters and former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic on her side of the Brisbane International draw.

Hometown favorite Stosur opens play Monday at Pat Rafter Arena against Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus.

Patrick Head, co-founder of Williams F1 in 1977 with Frank Williams and currently director of engineering, has stepped down from the stable's board of directors.

Head will continue, however, in his role as a board director of Williams Hybrid Power Limited, a subsidiary of the company that develops and produces hybrid technologies.

Chinese star Li Na asserted she is back in form after beating world number nine Marion Bartoli in three sets in the singles opening match at the Hopman Cup mixed teams tournament.

This year's French Open champion put a poor finish in her 2011 campaign behind her to beat Bartoli 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 on New Year's Eve.

David Ferrer stunned fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal in straight sets on Friday to set up a final showdown with world number one Novak Djokovic at the $250,000 three-day exhibition tournament here.

Ferrer took advantage of a below-par Nadal, winning 6-3, 6-2, after Djokovic had earlier demolished Swiss Roger Federer 6-2, 6-1 at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship.

Former France coach Raymond Domenech has donated 150,000 euros he earned as a bonus in the 2010 World Cup to two amateur football clubs and a charity, it was reported Friday.

Le Parisien newspaper said that Domenech had given 70,000 euros to the Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt (ACBB), with the remaining 80,000 euros split between an inner-city football club and a charity.

Kevin Durant's buzzer-beating three-pointer gave Oklahoma City a 104-102 NBA victory over Dallas on Thursday that left the reigning champion Mavericks without a win in three games this season.

Durant finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka contributed 16 points apiece as the Thunder overcame 26 turnovers to improve to 4-0 in the lockout-shortened season that began on Sunday.

World number one Caroline Wozniacki has arrived in Thailand for a charity tennis match against Victoria Azarenka to raise money for the country's recent flood crisis, a spokeswoman said Friday.

Denmark's Wozniacki will play world number three Azarenka of Belarus on Sunday in the coastal resort Hua Hin, with ticket revenues going to relief efforts for inundations that swamped huge areas of the country and left nearly 800 dead.

Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt says reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Speaking in Perth as he prepared for the mixed teams Hopman Cup, the 30-year-old said he was not ready to hang up his racquet just yet, despite a string of injury setbacks that has seen his ranking plummet.