AUCKLAND, Jan 15 — Top seed David Ferrer completed a perfect warm-up for next week's Australian Open with a surprisingly easy 6-3 6-2 victory over David Nalbandian to win the Auckland Open title today.

Ferrer, the 2007 champion on the central Auckland courts, wasted little time against an error-prone Nalbandian to win in just 68 minutes.

It was the world number seven's 10th career title.

Strangely enough, the pair could meet again next week in Melbourne in the third round at the Australian Open should they both make it that far.

Nalbandian has been drawn to face local favourite Lleyton Hewitt in the first round, while Ferrer will meet Finland's Jarkko Niemenen — himself a former Auckland champion. — Reuters

SAN ANTONIO, Jan 15 — The league-leading San Antonio Spurs streaked past the slumping Dallas Mavericks to record a comfortable 101-89 win over their Southwest Division rivals today.

The red-hot Spurs have won five in a row to improve to 34-6 and lead the Mavericks (26-12), who have lost four in a row, by seven games in the division.

San Antonio had extended scoring runs throughout the contest, building a game-high 24-point lead by the end of three quarters before resting their starters for much of the final period.

The Spurs seized control of the game with a 12-2 run in the first quarter to take an 18-9 lead, and pushed their advantage to as much as 19 points in the first half that finished with San Antonio leading 57-42.

DeJuan Blair led the Spurs with 18 points and 13 rebounds and Tim Duncan had a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Tony Parker also had 18 points.

Shawn Marion led the Mavericks with 14 points while leading scorer Dirk Nowitzki missed his ninth straight game with a knee injury. — Reuters