Madrid  - Lionel Messi gave one of the best performances of his promising career in Madrid on Tuesday, scoring a handsome hat- trick as Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 in a one-sided cup fifth round, first leg clash.

The Argentine youngster confirmed his status as one of football's brightest stars, at the same time that Barca confirmed their status as the top team in Spain.

Messi missed Barca's 3-1 defeat of Mallorca on Saturday because he returned late from vacation. On Tuesday, he made up for lost time by driving the flat Atletico defence crazy.

Zagreb  - Jean-Baptiste Gra

Bischofshofen, Austria  - Austrian Wolfgang Loitzl soared to a stunning Four Hills ski-jumping triumph when he again left the pre-tournament favourites in his wake to clinch the title on Tuesday.

Loitzl had the 25,000-strong home crowd in Bischofshofen in raptures with huge jumps of 142.5 metres and 141.5 metres to complete a hat-trick of victories in the annual four-round event.

It sealed a commanding tournament victory for 28-year-old Loitlz who had not won a World Cup event in his career until winning the second round in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Perth, Australia  - Surprise Slovakia stayed on course for a possible third Hopman Cup title, working nearly eight hours into early Wednesday to defeat Australia 2-1 in the latest finish in the event's history.

Lleyton Hewitt almost re-lived the heroics which took him to number one nearly a decade ago, winning his second singles in 24 hours.

But he and Casey Dellacqua failed to fire in the closing stages of the deciding mixed doubles against Dominik Hrbaty and Dominika Cibulkova, the Slovaks winning 6-7
(4-7), 6-3, 10-4 (match tiebreak).

Bischofshofen, Austria - Austrian Wolfgang Loitzl clinched the Four Hills ski-jumping tournament after his third straight victory in the last of the four rounds on Tuesday.

Loitzl, 28, landed jumps of 142.5 metres and 141.5 metres before jubilant home fans in Bischofshofen to leave Swiss hope Simon Ammann trailing second and fellow Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer third overall.

It was Austria's first Four Hills crown since Andreas Widhoelzl won the 1999-00 edition.

Sydney: The double blade bats are all set to revolutionize the cricket world. For the first time, New South Wales (NSW) batsman David Warner and Aiden Blizzard of Victoria will use these bats in Australia's Twenty20 tournament.

The new bats are considered to give batsman an edge in some way or the other in the shortest version of the game.

Earlier on Monday, pinch-hitting batsman Warner tried out the new bat for the first time at the SCG nets.