AC Milan's Andriy Shevchenko (r) challenges Giulio Falcone of Sampdoria during their Serie A match at the Ferrari Stadium in Genoa, northern Italy, Saturday. (Reuters Photo)

ROME, Oct. 31--Andriy Shevchenko celebrated the birth of his first child by scoring the only goal in AC Milan's 1-0 victory at Sampdoria on Saturday which kept the defending champions hot on the heels of leaders Juventus, AFP said.
In the day's late match, Inter Milan drew for the seventh time in nine matches as Leonardo Jose Talamonti's late equalizer earned Lazio a point at the San Siro.
Inter had taken the lead 19 seconds after half time when Adriano rifled in his seventh goal of the season, before the Argentine defender headed home Massimo Oddo's crossed free-kick.
AC Milan have 20 points from their nine matches, two less than Juventus who play at home to Chievo on Sunday, while Inter climb to fourth despite their draw but are nine points off the pace.
Shevchenko started as a substitute in Genoa as he only returned from his wife's bedside on Saturday afternoon after being present at the birth of his son Jordan a day earlier.
But the 28-year-old Ukrainian striker came off the bench to net the winner 14 minutes from time, pouncing on the rebound after Serginho's attempted chip had been blocked by Francesco Antonioli.
Roberto Mancini's past came back to haunt him as Lazio robbed Inter of all three points.
Mancini left Lazio to join Inter in the summer after two years in charge of the Rome club.
The Inter coach was incensend with referee Matteo Simone Trefoloni for awarding the late free-kick from which allowed Lazio to level the score.
He ran over to Trefeloni after the match and shouted: "Tell me what foul you whistled for - you're a disgrace."
After a dull first half, Inter took the lead through Adriano. The burly Brazilian ran on to a long pass from Sinisa Mihajlovic and sprinted past Fernando Couto before firing a powerful drive between the near post and Lazio keeper Matteo Sereni.
Lazio restored parity six minutes from time when Talamonti rose above everybody to score his first goal in Serie A.
Inter came within inches of secure victory in the closing stages, but Sereni tipped Alvaro Recoba's curled free-kick onto the crossbar.
Lazio are something of a jinx on Inter, who have not beaten the Rome club home or away since 1996.

MADRID, Spain, Oct. 31--Estonia's Markko Martin held the overnight lead after the second day of the Rally of Catalunya on Saturday but Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm claimed three stage wins to keep up the pressure, Reuters said.
Citroen's newly crowned world champion Sebastien Loeb of France, who led after the first day, had to retire because of an oil leak after winning the day's opening stage ahead of home favourite Carlos Sainz.
Martin won stages eight and 12 in his Ford to top the leaderboard by 39.7 seconds from former double world champion Gronholm, who was quickest in stages nine, 11 and 13.
"I'm not really attacking. I'm just driving safely to keep ahead," Martin told wrc.com.
"I would have adopted a different pace if Loeb were still in the rally.
I wanted to finish the leg with a minimum 35-second gap and I've done that."
Sainz, competing in his penultimate race before retiring, lay third in his Citroen after winning stage 14, the final run of the day.
Stage 10 was cancelled due to the high number of spectators packing the course.

MADRID, Spain, Oct. 31--Leaders Barcelona dropped points for only the second time this season when they drew 1-1 at 10-man Athletic Bilbao in an entertaining Primera Liga game on Saturday, Reuters said.
African Player of the Year Samuel Eto'o scored his eighth goal of the campaign to put the visitors ahead in the 11th minute but Bilbao hit back almost immediately thanks to a spectacular volley from midfielder Fran Yeste.
Last season's champions Valencia, who had lost their last four games in all competitions, gave a nerve-riddled performance as they allowed 10-man Atletico Madrid to fight back from a goal down to claim a 1-1 draw in a disjointed match at the Mestalla.
The results left Barca six points clear at the top of the table.
Valencia remain third, one point ahead of Atletico, but both sides could find themselves overhauled by the chasing pack of five teams who have still to play this weekend.
Barca, who fell victim to third division Gramenet in the King's Cup in midweek, were forced on to the back foot in the opening minutes at San Mames.
But Frank Rijkaard's side weathered the early storm and took the lead against the run of play courtesy of the in-form Eto'o.
The Cameroon international cracked the ball past keeper Daniel Aranzubia after youth team defender Damia, who was making his debut for Barca in the league, had ballooned in a cross from the right.
But Bilbao were unflustered by the early setback and hit back just three minutes later when the highly rated Yeste equalized with a classy volley after center forward Ismael
Urzaiz had headed the ball over the static Barca defense.
Both sides pushed forward in the second half, but it was Bilbao who enjoyed what was probably the best chance to take the lead when the outstanding Yeste shaved the far post after controlling an Asier Del Horno cross with his toe.
Bilbao had to endure a nervous finale after midfielder Carlos Gurpegi was sent off for successive fouls on Barca substitute Andres Iniesta, but held on to join Atletico Madrid as the only two sides to have held the Catalans this season.

David Nalbandian of Argentina eyes the ball for a backhand return to Nicolas Massu of Chile during their semifinal game at the ATP Basel tournament, Saturday. (AFP Photo)

BASEL, Switzerland, Oct. 31--Argentine fourth seed David Nalbandian reached the final of the Swiss Indoors for the third consecutive year on Saturday with a 6-3 6-4 win over struggling Chilean Nicolas Massu, Reuters said.
Nalbandian, who meets unseeded Czech Jiri Novak on Sunday, needed just 78 minutes to see off the seventh seed.
The Chilean world number 18, who won two Olympic gold medals in Athens, was hampered by a rib injury he suffered on the very first point of the match.
Broken three times in the second set, Massu did manage to claw two breaks back before Nalbandian served out with an ace.
"It wasn't a very long match, so that was better for me than yesterday," said Nalbandian in reference to his two-and-a-quarter-hour win over Germany's Rainer Schuettler.
"I wouldn't say I was playing at my best. Massu was making a lot of mistakes on his backhand."
Massu responded: "I though about giving up after going 3-0 down in the second set.
"But I decided to keep going because you never know what's going to happen. It forced me to change my tactics though, because I was going all out to hit winners, which isn't my normal strategy."
Having won here in 2002, the Argentine boasts an unbeaten run in 13 matches he has started in the northern Swiss city. Saturday's win also kept alive his slim hopes of qualifying for next month's Masters Cup finale.
"Yes, that's still a goal although I think it will be very tough," Nalbandian said. "I'll need to win here and in Paris (at next week's Masters Series tournament). It just gives me a bit more motivation."

PALM HARBOR, USA, Oct. 31--World number one Vijay Singh shot a four-under-par 67 on Saturday and took the lead of the Chrysler Championship after three rounds, Reuters said.
Fiji's Singh, who finished on 12-under 201 at the Westin Copperhead Course, leads Tommy Armour III by one stroke.
Sweden's Jesper Parnevik and Kirk Triplett share third place on 203, while Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal and Tom Carter are joint fifth on 205.
Second-round co-leader Jeff Sluman slipped to a 74 and joins Tim Herron, former PGA Championship winner David Toms, Sweden's Carl Pettersson and Australia's Robert Allenby in a tie for seventh on 206.
Singh began the round two shots behind the leaders, Jonathan Byrd and Sluman, and stumbled early, making bogeys at the second and third holes before he bounced back with three birdies on the font nine, then three more coming home.
"You can make early bogeys and you can always recover," Singh said. "I made a lot of birdies out there.
"You just need to keep your head and play to your game plan and just be patient. My first goal was to get back to par, and I did it immediately.
"Whenever I go over par, that's my first goal is to get it back to par. That's what I've been doing all year."
Singh is looking for his ninth victory of the season on Sunday. Should he win, he will have a chance for a 10th next week in the Tour Championship.
"I'm not really worried about the 10 wins," Singh said. "I just want to play well until the end of the season. If I win this week, fine, then I have to do it again next week.

VIENNA, Austria, Oct. 31--World number two Amelie Mauresmo exploited an injury to opponent Jelena Jankovic as she fought back to win 4-6 6-3 6-1 in the semifinals of the Linz Open on Saturday, Reuters said.
The French top seed, herself with strapping on her right thigh, came back from three games down to level the first set before losing her serve again as her potent backhand let her down.
Jankovic, 19, broke her more illustrious opponent again in the first game of the second set before Mauresmo hit back immediately with her own break as she began to dominate.
The Serbia and Montenegro player received treatment to her upper right arm at the end of the second set.

ÔAshadoÕ (r), ridden by John Velazquez, leads the way to the finish line at the Distaff Race at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, Saturday. (Reuters Photo)

GRAND PRAIRIE, USA, Oct. 31--Leading United States trainer Todd Pletcher finally secured his first Breeder's Cup victory on Saturday, then quickly followed it with another, Reuters said.
Dallas-native Pletcher was 0 for 12 in Breeders' Cup racing until his horse Ashado won the $2 million Distaff Race at Lone Star Park, just a few miles (kilometers) west of his home town.
Speightstown won the $1 million Sprint three races later.
"Two Breeders' Cup anywhere is big, but especially here," said Pletcher, whose family watched him lift the trophies.
"Before everyone says that I am 0-12, they need to go back and look at the first eight or nine I ran. The smartest thing, probably, would have been to stay at home," Pletcher said of his previous horses' performances.
In the first Breeders' Cup race on the card, the Distaff, Pletcher was a bundle of nerves as he jumped and shouted ÔGo Johnny GoÕ as jockey John Velazquez took Ashado to victory.
With his first Breeders' Cup victory under his belt, the 37-year-old Pletcher was a bit calmer when Valezquez rode Speightstown to victory.
Pletcher has been among the leading trainers in US and as of October 3 had earned the highest amount this year--$12.3 million. He set even more distance between himself and the rest of the field with two victories on Saturday.
One of Ashado's owner's had joked with Pletcher about his troubled showing in Breeders' Cup races.
"He was 0-12 in the Breeders' Cup, and I asked if he could send me to a trainer that has a little track record," said Ashado co-owner Jack Wolf.

PARIS, Oct. 31--Unheralded midfielder Pierre-Alain Frau became the hero for Lyon on Saturday scoring the only goal of the game in a deserved 1-0 victory over Strasbourg which maintained their slender league lead, AFP said
Frau, so often the provider of crosses that turn regularly into goals, struck in the 68th minute to hand Paul Le Guen's champions victory over a Strasbourg team reduced to ten men just after the half hour.
Paris St Germain sneaked a point away at Corsican side Ajaccio, who saw former boss Rolland Courbis return to the helm for his first game in charge which finished in a 1-1 draw.