Sports in Brief: Alonso by a hair in Singapore GP

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso held off Sebastian Vettel in a thrilling finish to the nighttime Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday and moved to within 11 points of the Formula One championship lead.

The Spaniard led from start to finish for his second straight win, but was pressured throughout by Red Bull's Vettel, who closed markedly over the final two laps to almost snatch a win. Alonso won by just 0.293 seconds.

Alonso won his second Singapore GP, crossing a finish line clouded in smoke after Lotus' Heikki Kovalainen stopped nearby with his car in flames.

The gap between Alonso and Vettel remained about one second for much of the closing quarter of the race, but the German could find no way past on the tight Marina Bay street circuit.

"I tried to push him into a mistake," Vettel said. "It's hard to overtake here and it would have been too risky."

Red Bull's Mark Webber finished third - surviving a midrace collision that eliminated McLaren's Lewis Hamilton - to boost his lead to 11 points over Alonso with four races left.

His 25th career victory puts Alonso in sixth on the all-time list with Niki Lauda and Jim Clark.

SOCCER: Manchester United was held to a 2-2 draw by Bolton in the Premier League, failing to fully capitalize on defeats by Chelsea and Arsenal a day earlier.

United could have moved to within a point of league leader Chelsea with a win at Reebok Stadium but needed a 74th-minute equalizer by substitute Michael Owen to rescue a point and move into second in the standings.

Chelsea relinquished its undefeated record by losing, 1-0, to Manchester City on Saturday, while Arsenal lost, 3-2, at home to West Bromwich Albion and dropped to third.

TENNIS: Eighth-seeded Gilles Simon of France defeated qualifier Mischa Zverev of Germany, 6-3, 6-2, to win the Open de Moselle and his seventh career title in Metz, France.

Juan Ignacio Chela defeated Spanish qualifier Pablo Andujar, 7-5, 6-1, to win the BCR Open in Bucharest, Romania.

RUNNING: Patrick Makau of Kenya won the 37th Berlin Marathon but failed to break the world record set on the course two years ago. Makau ran through the rain-soaked German capital in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 8 seconds, finishing two seconds ahead of countryman Geoffrey Mutai.

Amine Laalou of Morocco surged past two-time Olympic medalist Bernard Lagat of the United States in the final stretch of the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York to win in 3:52.83. Lagat finished in 3:53.30.

VOLLEYBALL: The United States beat Venezuela, 25-19, 25-23, 25-19, at the volleyball world championships in Reggio Calabria, Italy, securing a spot in the second round.

The U.S. team will play Argentina on Monday. The semifinals and final will be played Oct. 8-10.

- Staff and wire reports