Spain and Argentina capitalized on their home claycourt advantage to move closer to a Davis Cup final showdown after taking control of their semi-finals on Friday.
Spain, two-time winners, opened up a 2-0 lead over defending champions USA with world No. 1 Rafael Nadal outclassing debutant Sam Querrey 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 inside Madrid’s intimidating, 22,000-capacity Las Ventas bullring.
David Ferrer then ground out a 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 1-6, 6-4, 8-6 win over Andy Roddick.
In Buenos Aires, David Nalbandian eased past Igor Andreev 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-4 to give Argentina the lead over two-time champions Russia before 19-year-old Juan Martin del Potro extended his summer streak to 24 wins in 25 matches by easing past world No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
Should Argentina complete victory over Russia, they will have home advantage in December’s final when they will be bidding for a first Davis Cup title after twice finishing runners-up.
In the playoffs, where the winners will be guaranteed places in the 2009 World Group, Andy Murray pulled Great Britain level 1-1 with Austria. The Scot made quick work of Alexander Peya, racing to a 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 victory on Wimbledon’s Court One to cancel out Jurgen Melzer’s 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2, 6-1 victory over Alex Bogdanovic. In Lausanne, Switzerland were 2-0 to the good against Belgium.
Stanislas Wawrinka needed four hours to see off Steve Darcis 6-7 (3/7), 6-1, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 before world No. 2 Roger Federer eased past Kristof Vliegen 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 6-2.
Australia, who have won the Davis Cup 28 times, slipped 2-0 down to Chile on the clay courts of Antofagasta where former Olympic champion Nicolas Massu beat plucky Chris Guccione 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 7-6 (7/2).
The Aussies, without injured talisman Lleyton Hewitt, then saw world No. 177 Peter Luczak crumble to Fernando Gonzalez, the world No. 11, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.
In Bratislava, world No. 3 Novak Djokovic gave Serbia the lead over Slovakia, the 2005 runners-up, with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 over Dominik Hrbaty before Janko Tipsarevic made it 2-0 with a four-hour victory over Lukas Lacko 6-7 (3/7), 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 8-6.
Mario Ancic gave 2005 champions Croatia a perfect start against Brazil in Zadar.
The injury-plagued Ancic saw off Thomaz Bellucci 6-2, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3) before Ivo Karlovic beat Thiago Alves 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/3), 7-5. In Bucharest, India went 2-0 down to Romania.
The Netherlands and South Korea were level at 1-1 in Apeldoorn after Jess Huta Galung beat Im Kyu-Tae 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 following Lee Hyung-Taik’s 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win against Thiemo De Bakker.
Israel and Peru were also level at 1-1 at Ramat Hasharon with Luis Horna giving the South Americans the lead with a 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 win over Harel Levy before Dudi Sela saw off Ivan Miranda 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
A man fell from the 6.4m-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during Wednesday night’s game between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track. The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart. The team issued a statement shortly
PAINFUL VICTORY: Ruud said that felt pain in his rib during the warmup and was put on painkillers so that he could finish the match against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo With the help of painkillers, Casper Ruud overcame a rib ailment to defeat Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets and reach the Madrid Open final on Friday. Ruud is to face Jack Draper, who beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the other semi-final to make his third final of the year. Ruud received treatment on his rib three games into the match and went on to win 6-4, 7-5 on the Caja Magica center court. The 15th-ranked Norwegian saved 15 of the 18 break points he faced against the 21st-ranked Argentine. Ruud said he felt something in his rib during the warmup, just before
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