TENNIS
Argentina dethrone Britain
Argentina substitute Leonardo Mayer ended Britain’s reign as Davis Cup champions with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over Dan Evans to secure an enthralling 3-2 triumph in the fifth rubber of their semi-final on Sunday. Mayer, who unexpectedly replaced Juan Martin del Potro for the decider, propelled the South American nation into their first final since 2011, when they lost to Spain. Andy Murray, whose defeat by Del Potro in a five-hour thriller in the opening singles on Friday left Britain facing an uphill task, had pulled the hosts level at 2-2 by beating Guido Pella 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 in Sunday’s first reverse singles. Argentina face Croatia, who beat France 3-2 in the other semi-final, in the Nov. 25 to Nov. 27 final.
GOLF
Molinari edges Willett
Local favorite Francesco Molinari beat England’s Danny Willett by one shot on Sunday to become the first Italian to win his national Open twice since it became part of the European Tour in 1972. The 2006 winner also became the first Italian to win any European Tour event twice after recording a final round of 65 for a 22-under finish at the Milan Golf Club. Molinari, 33, had been four shots clear with six holes to play, but US Masters champion Willett cut the gap to one with a birdie and an eagle at the 13th and 14th respectively. “I had the ideal start, I couldn’t start any better,” Molinari said. “When I birdied 12 I got four shots [clear], and thought maybe I could relax a bit and I got punished straight away. Coming in I had nothing left, I was just playing with my soul.”
SOCCER
Spurs sweat on Harry Kane
Mauricio Pochettino said Tottenham Hotspur might already be feeling the pace after being left to sweat on an injury to England striker Harry Kane, who was carried off after scoring the winner in a 1-0 victory at home to Sunderland in the Premier League on Sunday. Kane scored his second goal in as many league games, but was taken off on a stretcher late on after a tackle by Papy Djilobodji, with an initial diagnosis of a twisted ankle. The victory lifted Spurs into third place and maintained their unbeaten start to the season. The Spurs manager believes the rigors of the UEFA Champions League are already starting to take their toll, with Mousa Dembele also leaving the field with cramp. “When you are involved in different competitions like the Champions League, it’s a new competition for us and we spent a lot of energy on Wednesday [last week],” he said. “It was different from the last two seasons when we were only playing in the Europa League, where we could rotate the squad and the starting XI.”
SOCCER
Hertha BSC stay perfect
Hertha BSC continued their winning start to the Bundesliga season with a deserved 2-0 victory over visiting Schalke 04 on Sunday, dealing the visitors their third consecutive defeat. Mitchell Weiser scored one and set up another for Hertha to make it three wins from three and stay second behind Bayern Munich on goal-difference. Peter Pekarik crossed for Weiser to sweep into the far corner in the 64th minute. Valentin Stocker doubled the lead 10 minutes later. “We’re delighted we have nine points, but now we have to keep going,” said Weiser, who returns to face former side Bayern in Munich tomorrow.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier