Cycling race Tour de France is in its last week. Tuesday’s stage was won by Spanish rider Fernando Escartin, who finished two minutes and one second clear of Alex Zulle from Switzerland. Frenchman Richard Virenque finished third. With the win of the stage, Escartin moved up to second place overall, passing Zulle, and is now six minutes and 19 seconds behind American Lance Armstrong. Wednesday’s stage did not change anything in the lead. The race concludes in Paris this weekend.

In Paraguay, Brazil secured its sixth Copa America title in soccer by beating Uruguay 3-0 Sunday. Striker Rivaldo scored the two first goals and assisted Ronaldo on the third goal.

Also in soccer news, last season’s triple-champion Manchester United played Chinese league leader Shenua in Shanghai Wednesday, in front of 56,500 spectators. The English club, which has a large following in Asia, beat Shenua 2-0 with goals scored by Teddy Sheringham and Norwegian striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

After winning the British Open in golf last weekend, Scotland’s Paul Lawrie has been named as a potential rookie on the European team for the Ryder Cup tournament that is held in September. U.S. Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal from Spain and Britain’s Lee Westwood are also almost certain to qualify for the team that meets the U.S. this fall.

In Germany, the Mercedes Cup in tennis is past the second round stage with most of the favorites through. The exception is No. 1 seed Gustavo Kuerten from Brazil who had to withdraw from his game against Magnus Norman from Sweden due to exhaustion. Sixth-seed Spaniard Felix Mantilla was also ousted from the tournament, losing 2-0 in sets to Jiri Novak from the Czech Republic.

Romania’s Gabriela Szabo ran this season’s best 3,000 meters at the Paris Golden League athletic event Wednesday. In other results, Denmark’s Wilson Kipketer won the 800 meter race and Maria Mutola from Mozambique won the women’s 800 meters.

In sailing, the Admirals Cup race, currently held in England, the host nation regained the lead after a day of rough seas that saw one German boat being disqualified. Italy is currently in second place, six points behind the leaders. The Dutch team holds third place.

Finally, in Argentina, a six-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy won the first South American golf tournament for children up to eight years old on Tuesday. Paula Laschera won the girl’s competition while Mariano Newton captured the boy’s title. Over 70 children from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay competed in the tournament that was held on a private club outside Buenos Aires, Argentina.