SINGAPORE -- Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel positioned himself as the main challenger to Fernando Alonsos Formula One title chances by earning his second straight Singapore Grand Prix win on Sunday, jumping up to second place in the drivers championship. Vettel inherited the lead from pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton of McLaren, who led the race until he suffered a gearbox failure on lap 23 of 59 and had to retire. It was defending champion Vettels second win of the season after Bahrain and he reinvigorated his chances of earning a third straight title. "We benefited a little bit from Lewis failure," Vettel said. "We had a very, very strong pace all weekend and a good start, which got us in the hunt. "I am just incredibly happy and proud." Vettel had to defend his win both on the track and in the stewards room after the race, having been called in to explain an incident behind the safety car when he hit the brakes unexpectedly at the exit of a corner, forcing second-place driver Jenson Button of McLaren to quickly swerve, with a collision narrowly avoided. Stewards cleared him of wrongdoing. Hamilton suffered his third non-finish in five races -- interspersed with two wins -- as his gearbox finally gave up, having leaked fluid for three to four laps before he retired. "Its heartbreaking not to have finished the race today," Hamilton said. "We definitely had the pace to win this weekend. In fact, before I retired, I was cruising." Button was right on the tail of Vettel when racing resumed after the safety car with 18 laps to go, but said his car felt unbalanced in the closing stages, and he was not able to challenge the German. The race was stopped when it reached the two-hour time limit, two laps before its scheduled finish, chiefly due to two safety car periods. Alonso finished third in his Ferrari, with his championship lead trimmed from 37 to 29 points with six races to go, giving Vettel fresh impetus as he seeks to join Juan-Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher as the only men to have won three straight F1 titles. "It looks better than before," Vettel said. "We have a lot of races left, the car seems to be competitive and we just have to use the momentum and keep pushing for these last races and see what happens." Force Indias Paul di Resta finished a career-best fourth ahead of Mercedes Nico Rosberg. Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus was sixth and maintained third place in the championship standings despite not having won a race. Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean was seventh. Felipe Massa of Ferrari finished eighth after dropping down to last following a first-lap puncture, and he finished ahead of Toro Rossos Daniel Ricciardo, in only his second points finish of the season. Fellow Australian Mark Webber of Red Bull crossed the line in 10th, but was given a 20-second penalty for overtaking off the limits of the track, dropping him down to 11th and moving Saubers Sergio Perez into the last points position. Schumacher was also given a penalty after crashing heavily into the back of Toro Rossos Jean-Eric Vergne. He was handed a 10 grid-place penalty for the next race, as he admitted the error and it was his second similar offence this season. Button was relatively pleased with second place, though disappointed with Hamiltons non-finish, which put a major dent in McLarens bid to end a 13-year drought in the constructors championship. "Seb didnt make any mistakes and we finished second," Button said. "Its good to get some points on the board after the retirement at Monza. "Its disappointing for the team to have another DNF (did not finish). We cant seem to do it with both cars and for sure that is something we need to work on for the remainder of the season." Alonso acknowledged that Ferrari continues to struggle for pace, and his race was one of several which were compromised by the timing of the safety-car interventions, but he was satisfied with having maintained a good buffer atop the standings. "Its a fantastic result in terms of points," Alonso said. "Its a positive weekend, a very good weekend; of the four, five contenders we lost points to one and with the others we increased our advantage." Williams driver Pastor Maldonado started in a surprise second place and was running in third position halfway through the race but was forced to retire with a hydraulic failure. Authentic Discount Michael Kors Handbags . PETERSBURG, Fla. Michael Kors Handbags Outlet .C. Sherritt looked like he might become an afterthought with the Edmonton Eskimos. http://www.discountmichael-kor... . Serwa, the reigning world champion from Kelowna, B.C., came from fourth to win gold in the final of the World Cup event after Switzerlands Katrin Mueller and French veteran Ophelie David tangled behind her. [url=http://www.discountmichael-korshandbags.com/]Cheap Michael Kors Handbags . The 27-year-old Cousins spent parts of three seasons with the Marlins, posting a .183 average with two home runs and nine RBI in 175 at-bats. The Reno, Nevada native played the majority of last season with New Orleans of the Pacific Coast League (AAA), recording a .Wimbledon, England (Sports Network) - Russian superstar Maria Sharapova, steady Pole Agnieszka Radwanska and outgoing Belgian Kim Clijsters were all easy third-round victors Friday at Wimbledon. The world No. 1 Sharapova handled Taiwans Su-Wei Hsieh 6-1, 6-4 in 81 minutes amid windy conditions on Court 1 at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. "Considering the conditions, Im pretty happy with the way I played," said Sharapova, who is now 16-1 in Grand Slam action this year. The career Grand Slam winner is fresh off her French Open title three weeks ago, captured her lone Wimbledon championship in 2004, and was last years Wimbledon runner-up to powerful Czech Petra Kvitova. Sharapova will meet 15th-seeded big-serving German Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round on Monday in a rematch of a semifinal here from last year, which was won by the tall Russian. The unseeded former world No. 1 Clijsters was leading 12th-seeded Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 4-3 when the Russian retired due to an upper respiratory illness on Court 1. This marked a rematch of the 2010 U.S. Open final, which was also won by the three-time U.S. Open champion Clijsters. Zvonareva was the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up to American great Serena Williams. The 29-year-old Clijsters is still seeking that elusive first-ever trip into a Wimbledon final, and this is her last chance, as the wife and mother will retire from tennis following this summers U.S. Open. "Its a pleasure to be a part of the second week of a Grand Slam, especially at Wimbledon," Clijsters said. The two-time Wimbledon semifinalist Clijsters fourth-round opponent will be eighth-seeded German lefthander Angelique Kerber. A third-seeded Radwanska routed promising 20-year-old Brit Heather Watson 6-0, 6-2 under the roof on Ceentre Court, while the rocketing Kerber dismissed 28th- seeded American Christina McHale 6-2, 6-3 on Court 2.dddddddddddd The aforementioned Lisicki topped rising American Sloane Stephens 7-6 (7-5), 1-6, 6-2. A disappointed Stephens blew a 5-2 lead in the first-set tiebreak on Day 5 of this fortnight. The capable oft-injured Lisicki was a Wimbledon semifinalist last year and quarterfinalist in 2009. She missed the 2010 edition of tennis most prestigious event due to injury. Also on Friday, 17th-seeded Russian glamour girl Maria Kirilenko whipped Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 6-1, upstart 20-year-old Italian Camila Giorgi knocked out 20th-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), and 30th-seeded Chinese Peng Shuai blew away talented Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus 6-1, 6-2 to reach the round of 16. Giorgi will face Radwanska, while Kirilenko and Peng will square off on Monday. The second round concluded when little-known 19-year-old Slovak Jana Cepelova took out 26th-seeded Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. Cepelova is rewarded with a third-round match Saturday against second- seeded former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, who is the reigning Australian Open champ. Rain delayed the start of action in this London suburb on Friday. The third round is scheduled to conclude on Saturday, including matches for Azarenka, a fourth-seeded Kvitova and a sixth-seeded Williams. Azarenka will meet the upstart Cepelova, while Kvitova will face rising American Varvara Lepchenko, and the former No. 1 and four-time Wimbledon titlist Williams will battle 25th-seeded Chinese Zheng Jie. Also on the Day-6 schedule will be French Open runner-up Sara Errani, former top-ranked star Ana Ivanovic and former Roland Garros champ Francesca Schiavone. ' ' '