NEW YORK (AP) -- Finally tested, even trailing, at the U.S. Open, Serena Williams turned things around just in time.
Two points from defeat, Williams suddenly regained her composure and her strokes, coming back to win the last four games and beat top-ranked Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 on Sunday night for her fourth championship at Flushing Meadows and 15th Grand Slam title overall.
Earlier Sunday, defending champion Novak Djokovic got his game into high gear and reached his third consecutive final at Flushing Meadows by beating fourth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in a match suspended a day earlier.
Ferrer led a shaky Djokovic 5-2 in the semifinal's opening set Saturday, when wind was whipping at more than 20 mph and play was halted because of an impending rainstorm. When they resumed about 18 hours later, Ferrer held serve to take that set - and then Djokovic quickly took control, using the brand of defense-to-offense baseline excellence that has carried the Serb to four of the past seven Grand Slam titles.
In Monday's final, Djokovic will face Olympic champion Andy Murray, who beat Tomas Berdych 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (7) on Saturday. It's the fifth consecutive year the U.S. Open men's title match has been played a day later than planned.
GOLF
CARMEL, Ind. (AP) - Rory McIlroy beat the strongest leaderboard in golf this year Sunday in the BMW Championship.
McIlroy made back-to-back birdies around the turn to emerge from a four-way tie and seize control at Crooked Stick. He closed with a 5-under 67, making his only bogey on the final hole when it no longer mattered, for a two-shot victory over Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood.
McIlroy became the first player since Tiger Woods in 2009 to win in consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour, and with his sixth career win, joined Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win at least six times at age 23.
Woods was never seriously in the mix. Five shots behind with seven holes to play, he made three late birdies and shot 68 to tie for fourth with Robert Garrigus (69).
McIlroy is the No. 1 seed going into the FedEx Cup finale in two weeks at East Lake, but any of the top five seeds can win the Tour Championship and capture the FedEx Cup with its $10 million bonus.
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) - Paula Creamer and Jiyai Shin had to wait until Monday to break their deadlock in the Kingsmill Championship.
After they each parred the par-4 18th hole eight times in a playoff Sunday, darkness forced the suspension of play for the day. They will resume play Monday morning on the par-4 16th hole.
HILVERSUM, Netherlands (AP) - Sweden's Peter Hanson won the KLM Open for his fifth European Tour title, holing a 35-foot eagle putt on the final hole for a two-stroke victory.
Hanson finished at 14-under 266 on the Hilversumsche course. Scotland's Richie Ramsay and Spain's Pablo Larrazabal tied for second. Ramsay closed with a 67, and Larrazabal shot a 70.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
NEW YORK (AP) - Arkansas took the second-largest fall out of the AP college football poll, dropping from eighth to unranked after losing to Louisiana-Monroe.
The Razorbacks were upset 34-31 in overtime after losing quarterback Tyler Wilson to an injury. The only team to take a more drastic fall from the poll was Michigan in 2007. The Wolverines opened the season at No. 5 and dropped out after a Week 1 loss to Appalachian State.
Alabama remains No. 1. Southern California is No. 2, followed by LSU and Oregon. Florida State moved into a tie for fifth with Oklahoma.
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Loved ones and teammates of a Tulane University football player who fractured his spine while making a tackle will face an agonizing wait to learn how serious the injury is and whether it will leave him paralyzed.
Tulane senior safety Devon Walker was in stable condition and recovering in an intensive-care unit after a three-hour surgery to stabilize his fractured spine at St. Francis Hospital, said Dr. Greg Stewart, Tulane's director of sports medicine.
''These kind of injuries take 24, 48, sometimes 72 hours to fully declare themselves,'' Stewart said before the surgery. ''We don't know what the long-term implications and outcomes are going to be.''
Walker was injured while making a tackle on the final play of the first half in Tulane's Conference USA opener against Tulsa.
BASEBALL
BALTIMORE (AP) - The New York Yankees fear first baseman Mark Teixeira aggravated a leg injury in an ill-fated sprint to first base, and the severity of his strained left calf will determine if he returns to play this season.
Teixeira returned Saturday night from a 10-day absence, then hurt himself on the final play of New York's 5-4 loss to Baltimore.
Asked Sunday if he envisioned Teixeira playing anytime soon, Yankees manager Joe Girardi replied: ''No, I don't think he'll be a player for us. I'd be surprised, but we'll just have to wait and see.''
AUTO RACING
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Clint Bowyer won the rain-delayed race at Richmond, and Jeff Gordon drove his way into the title picture by grabbing the last wild-card berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
Bowyer came back from a mid-race spin to pick up his second win of the season. The Saturday night victory gave the Michael Waltrip Racing driver another three bonus points to take into the Chase.
But the night belonged to Gordon, who struggled most of the race but pulled off a big-time rally to beat Kyle Busch by three points for the final spot in the 12-driver Chase field.
MONZA, Italy (AP) - McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton won the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, and Formula One leader Fernando Alonso of Ferrari finished third to extend his overall lead.
PARALYMPICS
LONDON (AP) - Oscar Pistorius secured his status as the icon of the London Paralympics by winning gold in the final track event in the Olympic Stadium.
As for the star of the games, look no further than British wheelchair racer David Weir.
The man nicknamed the ''Weirwolf of London'' has become a household name in the host nation by winning the 800 meters, 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters.
And he completed his clean sweep of golds on Sunday, timing his sprint finish to perfection to win the wheelchair marathon in blazing sunshine along the streets of the capital in a time of 1 hour, 30 minutes, 20 seconds.
Sunday night, Coldplay, Rihanna and Jay-Z rocked the Olympic Stadium to give the biggest-ever Paralympic Games a rousing send-off, wrapping up an unforgettable summer of sports in Britain.
The three-hour party at the packed 80,000-seat arena in east London gave the world a chance to celebrate 11 days of Paralympic competition that have shifted perceptions and shattered stereotypes about the disabled.
CYCLING
MADRID (AP) - Alberto Contador won his second Spanish Vuelta title on Sunday, capturing a fifth triumph at cycling's major races just over a month after his doping ban ended.
The Spanish cyclist navigated the straightforward and largely processional final leg into and around Madrid with ease to edge out Spanish compatriots Alejandro Valverde and Joaquin Rodriguez in the 21-stage race.
Valverde, the 2009 winner, finished 1 minute, 16 seconds behind. Rodriguez was 1:38 back after having led the 67th edition of the Spanish classic for 13 stages.
PRO HOCKEY
NEW YORK (AP) - After the first face-to-face meeting in a week between the NHL and the players' association, the sides spent a relatively quiet weekend apart as the clock ticks down toward another potential lockout.
With less than a week remaining before the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players runs out, no new negotiations took place after an informal return to the table Friday.
SOCCER
TOKYO (AP) - The United States won the women's under-20 World Cup for the third time, defeating defending champion Germany 1-0 Saturday on a goal by Kealia Ohai in the 44th minute.
Crystal Dunn beat a German defender in the penalty area and squared a pass to Ohai, who sent a right-footed shot over goalkeeper Laura Benkarth. It was the first goal Germany gave up in the tournament.
