ROME, March 6--AS Roma’s record-breaking run in Serie A was ended when a late goal by Marco Materazzi gave Inter Milan a 1-1 draw on Sunday.
The result interrupted Roma’s sequence of 11 consecutive league wins.
Inter are third in the table with 59 points from 28 matches, three points ahead of Fiorentina who climbed to fourth with a 2-1 win over Siena. Roma slipped to fifth on 55.
Juventus (73 points) and AC Milan (63) occupy the top two places after respective wins over Sampdoria and Empoli on Saturday, Reuters said.
Roma and Inter had early chances at the Olympic Stadium.
Home keeper Doni dived to his near post to stop an Alvaro Recoba shot while at the other end Francesco Toldo palmed out Rodrigo Taddei’s free kick.
Roma broke the deadlock in the ninth minute when Brazilian winger Mancini dribbled into the area, rounded defender Materazzi and cut the ball back for Taddei to score.
Inter steadily grew in confidence and went close to equalizing before the interval when Doni saved a volley from Esteban Cambiasso.
The visitors kept up the pressure after the break although Roma almost made it 2-0 when Mancini, alone on goal, fired over.
As they did in the first half, Inter finished the second period on the attack by winning a series of corners and pushing Roma back to the edge of their area.
The pressure paid off a minute from time when Materazzi headed a corner in at the near post.
Fiorentina’s fans must have anticipated an easy victory over mid-table Siena when Serie A’s top scorer Luca Toni muscled in front of his marker to sidefoot Stefano Fiore’s cross past keeper Marco Fortin in the third minute.
Only a full-stretch save by Fortin prevented Toni from heading his 24th Serie A goal of the season soon after.
Siena struck back after 15 minutes, Enrico Chiesa breaking down the left before unleashing a dipping shot that Bogdan Lobont spilled for Simone Vergassola to score.
Visiting Siena had chances each side of halftime to take the lead. Tomas Locatelli headed narrowly wide from a Chiesa cross and a mistake by defender Dario Dainelli allowed Erjon Bogdani to run through alone before Lobont turned his shot round the post.
In the first minute of stoppage time, Luis Jimenez’s header from a free kick forced a reflex save by Fortin and, in the goalmouth scramble that followed, striker Giampaolo Pazzini netted.
Livorno’s grip on sixth place, Italy’s final UEFA Cup berth, loosened when they lost 1-0 to a goal by Cagliari striker David Suazo.
The defeat left Livorno on 44 points, three ahead of Chievo Verona, who drew 2-2 with Lazio.

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, March 6--Australia, thrashed by 196 runs two days ago, bounced back to beat South Africa by 24 runs in the third one-day international on Sunday.
Australia made 254 for six and then bowled out South Africa for 230, Brett Lee finishing with four for 48. South Africa lead the five-match series 2-1. The next game is on Friday in Durban.
South Africa slumped to 69 for five before AB de Villiers, with a career-best 68, and Shaun Pollock (69) added 119 in 22 overs and brought the home side back into contention.
But a sensational boundary catch by Brad Hogg, leaping one-handed above his head, dismissed de Villiers off the useful left-arm spin of Michael Clarke, reported Reuters.
Shane Watson bowled Pollock to end his dazzling 74-ball innings and South Africa were out of the hunt despite a late flourish from Roger Telemachus who struck three mighty sixes in his 29 off 13 balls.
Earlier, skipper Ricky Ponting returned to action for Australia after recovering from an abdominal strain, top-scoring with 62.
Damien Martyn hit 51 off 69 balls to see Australia through to the last five overs after Ponting was fooled by the length of a Pollock delivery and skied a pull to long-on.
“It’s good to get back into the side, it’s been a frustrating week sitting and watching the first two games,“ Ponting told reporters.
Paceman Lee said: “It was one we needed to win and it was a great team effort. The boys put the runs on the board and that gave us something to bowl at.“
South African captain Graeme Smith said: “We just needed one decent partnership in our top five today and 255 would definitely have been a gettable total.“

French driver Sebastian Loeb powers his car during the third day of the FIA World Rally Championship's third stage in the Mexican state of Leon, Sunday. (AFP Photo)

LEON, Mexico, March 6--World champion Sebastien Loeb, driving a Citroen, won the Rally of Mexico on Sunday to take the lead in the overall standings.
The Frenchman beat Norwegian Petter Solberg, last year’s winner for Subaru, by 48.9 seconds after taking the lead on Saturday’s second leg in the mountains around Leon.
The victory was Loeb’s first of the season, first in Mexico and also a first for privately-run Kronos Racing, the Belgian-based outfit who have him driving for them while Citroen’s works team takes a year out of the championship.
Solberg’s points were his first of the season, Reuters said.
Loeb now leads the championship after three rounds with 26 points, with Ford’s Marcus Gronholm on 21. Kronos also took the lead in the manufacturers’ standings.
Austrian Manfred Stohl was third for the OMV-Peugeot Norway team, taking the final superspecial stage on the outskirts of Leon but still ending four minutes and 39 seconds off the winner’s final time.
Finland’s Gronholm, winner in Monte Carlo and Sweden, had hoped to become the first driver to win the first three rounds of the season but he rolled his Ford on the opening day.
The two times world champion rejoined the rally with a 20 minute penalty and fought back to claim a solitary point for eighth place.
“The car seems to be good and I am happy with that but the driver’s mistakes are not good,“ said Gronholm.
Loeb’s Spanish team mate Dani Sordo was fourth with Norwegian Henning Solberg, Petter’s older brother, fifth for Peugeot.
Emerging Irish driver Gareth MacHale was sixth, taking the first world championship points of his career and finishing as the highest placed Ford driver.
Australian Chris Atkinson was seventh for Subaru.

Winner Maria Jose Rienda of Spain stands on the podium with second placed Nicole Hosp (l) of Austria and third placed Tanja Poutiainen (r) of Finland after the women's giant slalom race at the Alpine Skiing World Cup in Hafjell, about 200 km north of the Norwegian capital Oslo, Sunday. (Reuters Photo)

HAFJELL, Norway, March 6--Maria Jose Rienda of Spain won her fourth World Cup giant slalom race of the season on Sunday, gaining some consolation after disappoinments at the Turin Olympics.
Rienda, only sixth after the first leg on the Hafjell course, finished in a total time of two minutes 22.64 seconds after a blistering second run, Reuters reported.
The win kept alive her hopes of overhauling Sweden’s Anja Paerson to win the season’s giant slalom title with just one race left at the World Cup finals in Aare, Sweden.
Nicole Hosp of Austria was second in 2:22.89 and Olympic silver medallist Tanja Poutiainen of Finland third in 2:23.16, according to provisional results. Poutiainen had set the fastest time on the first leg.
Rienda, third in the giant slalom World Cup for the past two seasons, was only 13th in the giant slalom and 37th in the super-G at the Turin Olympics last month.

NEW YORK, March 6--Boris Diaw picked up his second career triple double as the Phoneix Suns won their 10th straight with a 115-107 victory over Dallas on Sunday.
The win equaled a season-high streak for the Suns, while Dallas saw their franchise-record 16 home game winning streak come to an end.
Diaw notched 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, while Leandro Barbosa chipped in with 20 points for Phoenix, which shot 54 percent from the floor and made 10 of 22 from 3-point land.
Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 25 points and nine rebounds, but managed just three points in the final quarter as the Mavs faded down the stretch.
“They adjusted and double teamed me,“ Nowitzki told reporters after the game.
“I’ve got to do a better job finding the open man.“
Phoenix (41-17) has the fourth-best record in the NBA and trail only Dallas and San Antonio in the Western Conference, said Reuters.
The loss was the second in three games for the Mavericks, coming off a stretch where they won 19 of 20. The two losses came to San Antonio and Phoenix, the two teams closest to them in the Western Conference standings. The loss dropped Dallas (46-13) Ú game behind the defending NBA champion Spurs into second place in the overall West and Southwest Division standings.
In Toronto, Chris Bosh scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds as the Raptors beat the Boston Celtics 111-105, while LeBron James scored 37 points as the Cavs beat the Chicago Bulls 91-72.
In Philadelphia, Stephen Jackson scored 15 points including the game winning lay-up as the 76ers beat the Indiana Pacers 94-93.
Antawn Jamison scored 31 points as the Wizards beat the Sacramento Kings 117-107 and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Golden State Warriors 103-90.

PARIS, March 6--Paris St Germain were held to a drab scoreless draw by arch rivals Marseille here Sunday in a match that had dominated the sports pages all week.
Security concerns surrounding the staging of the encounter meant hundreds of extra police had been drafted in to deal with potential trouble after recent skirmishes involving PSG fans, AFP reported.
Because of the rivalry between both clubs and the potential for more mayhem PSG decided to limit tickets to Marseille’s traveling support, prompting a protest from Marseille who then sent a largely reserve side to the French capital as well as telling fans to stay at home.
Ironically it placed huge pressure on the hosts, who seemed at sixes and sevens against a youthful side who had nothing to lose and stood up well to the rare occasions created by the Parisians.
PSG president Pierre Blayau said the result had left a black mark over the team: “Overall we’ve been left with a feeling of shame, and sadness.
It took until the half hour mark for PSG to get near the Marseille goal, although Bonaventure Kalou’s solo surge and low drive from range went wide of Cedric Carrasso’s post.
Paulo Cesar, a substitute for midfielder Bernard Mendy, then pounced on a bad clearence by the keeper only for the Brazilian’s half-volley to be blocked by midfielder Alain Cantareil.
The only exciting incident came off the ball when Cantareil and PSG midfielder Cristian Rodriguez squared up. Carrasso barged out of his goal and was promptly shown the yellow card.
In the end Marseille held on, and celebrated stealing a deserved share of the spoils point by saluting the PSG supporters.
The scoreless draw proved a huge setback for PSG, who are bidding for a place in Europe--either in the UEFA Cup, or more ambitiously in the Champions League for which three places in total are attributed to French clubs.
Marseille currently sit in fifth, two spots ahead PSG who managed to slip past Le Mans and into seventh.

MUNICH, Germany, March 6--Bayern Munich keeper Oliver Kahn has called on his teammates to get serious ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League showdown with AC Milan following some amateur defending in their 2-1 defeat by SV Hamburg.
German champions Bayern looked to have secured a point against Hamburg after substitute Mehmet Scholl equalized in the 83rd minute only for Dutch international Nigel de Jong to head a winner six minutes later.
It was Bayern’s first ever defeat at the Allianz Arena and captain Kahn tore into his teammates after the game, AFP reported.
“We are the more experienced team yet we concede a goal like that,“ fumed Kahn. “I can not believe it, I really can’t.
“We had the draw which would have been fine but we wanted more.
The team needs to understand that we are playing for the German title here, not some local championship.“
The defeat has taken some wind out of Bayern’s sails ahead of the last 16 Champions League tie with Milan on Wednesday.
Milan, last season’s finalists, have a slight advantage after scoring a crucial away goal in the first leg 1-1 draw and Bayern can not afford any more defensive slip-ups.
“Perhaps this defeat will make us more aggressive and we will react by turning in a fantastic display in Milan,“ said Kahn.
The 36-year-old Kahn missed the first leg with a thigh complaint and for all his post-match criticism his first game back from injury was anything but flawless.
The German international was at fault for Hamburg’s opener on 16 minutes when a cross from Cote D’Ivoire international Guy Demel floated straight into the net.
Bayern manager Felix Magath refused to critcize his captain but did admit the Milan game had been on the players’ minds.
“We will be a lot more concentrated when we walk out in Milan,“ promised Magath. “To be honest, I think the Milan game was on the players minds against Hamburg.“
While the defeat deflated confidence in the Bayern camp Magath is also concerned that his stars have had their energy sapped by playing on a snow-covered pitch cut up by rain.

LAS VEGAS, USA, March 6--James Blake recorded a shock 7-5 2-6 6-3 win over top seed Lleyton Hewitt in the final of the Tennis Channel Open on Sunday.
American Blake relied on big forehands, pinpoint service returns and solid net play to defeat the Australian for the first time in seven attempts.
“I’m happy to finally get a win against one of the best players of all time,“ the fifth seed told reporters after scooping his fifth career title.
“It was big hurdle. We had played a lot of matches that went back and forth where he came out on top every time, Reuters said.
“To get a win in the final, were the top players are usually playing their best, it’s a pretty good feeling.“
Blake is now projected to rise to a career-high 14th when the world rankings are released on Monday.
Two of the fastest players in the game, Blake and Hewitt stood toe-to-toe trading groundstrokes from inside the baseline during the first set.
The 26-year-old American pierced Hewitt’s armour when he broke to lead 6-5 with a dazzling backhand down the line.
Hewitt roared back in the second set, reading Blake’s serves well and powering his backhands deep to break three times.
Blake immediately broke Hewitt with a backhand down the line in the third set but the Australian replied to 1-1.
The American then began to feast on Hewitt’s second serves and bully him with forehands but was unable to serve out the match at 5-2 due to a slew of unforced errors.
But Blake stood strong in a spectacular final game, winning the contest on his second match point when he forced Hewitt into a forehand error. Hewitt, who hasn’t won a title in 14 months, said he was unlucky in the third set, when Blake got a couple of favorable net cords.