Mon, Feb 27, 2012 page18

• SPORTS BRIEFS

  • Staff Writer, with Agencies
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  GOLF

  McIlroy, Westwood to duel

  Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood set up a mouth--watering duel in the last four of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Marana, Arizona, when they each completed comfortable victories in Saturday’s quarter-finals. Northern Ireland’s world No. 2 McIlroy never trailed before beating South Korean Bae Sang-moon 3&2, while third-ranked Westwood won 4&2 against fellow Briton Martin Laird at Dove Mountain’s Ritz-Carlton Golf Club. Either McIlroy or Westwood could depose Luke Donald as world No. 1 by winning yesterday’s final, adding extra spice to their semi-final encounter yesterday morning. Earlier on Saturday, Hunter Mahan crushed fellow American Matt Kuchar 6&5 in their quarter-final and will meet compatriot Mark Wilson, a 4&3 winner over Swede Peter Hanson.

  GOLF

  Summerhays breaks clear

  Little-known American Daniel Summerhays, in pursuit of a maiden PGA Tour title, broke clear of a congested leaderboard to move two strokes in front after Saturday’s third round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico. One of three leaders overnight, Summerhays fired a flawless four-under par-67 in blustery conditions on the El Camaleon course to post a 12-under total of 201. Compatriot Chris Stroud was alone in second after carding a 68, with fellow Americans Michael Allen (66) and Will Claxton (71) a further two shots back at eight under. Johnson Wagner, who won last year’s title in a playoff with fellow American Spencer Levin, carded a 71 to lie 13 strokes off the pace going into yesterday’s final round.

  GOLF

  Lahiri barely keeps lead

  India’s Anirban Lahiri endured several heart-stopping moments before defeating Thailand’s Prom Meesawat at the first play-off hole to win the SAIL-SBI Open on Saturday. The home favorite admitted he was lucky to pip Prom to the title after ending regulation play with his week’s highest score of one-over par-73 at the Delhi Golf Club. An upset appeared on the cards when Prom overcame a three-shot deficit to take a share of the lead with Lahiri from the 16th hole in regulation play. The Thai closed with a 70 for a 14-under par-274 total and headed to the play-off brimming with confidence. However, Prom’s tee shot at the first play-off hole found the bushes on the right and he had to take a penalty because of an unplayable lie. Lahiri hit a good tee shot and managed to reach the green in three. He came within three feet for his birdie putt. Prom then decided to pick up his ball and concede defeat. Taiwan’s Hsu Chia finished tied for 38th on two-over 290, while Chan Shih-chang was tied for 63rd place four shots further back.

  BASKETBALL

  Evans wins slam-dunk test

  Utah’s Jeremy Evans won the slam-dunk contest at the NBA’s All-Star in Orlando, Florida, in Saturday night festivities. Evans, who got into the competition as a replacement for injured New York guard Iman Shumpert, earned 29 percent of 3 million text message votes cast by fans. This was the first year that fans had total control of voting, a major tweak from past competitions. Evans earned the win over Houston’s Chase Budinger, Indiana’s Paul George and Minnesota’s Derrick Williams. Evans dunked with a camera on his head, dunked two basketballs while jumping over a seated assistant and then donned a Karl Malone jersey while dunking over mailman-dressed comedian Kevin Hart. This year’s contest lasted three rounds, but the four participants had only two minutes per round to complete a single dunk.

  TENNIS

  Ferrer thrashes Nalbandian

  World No. 5 David Ferrer overwhelmed local favorite David Nalbandian 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday, setting up a final with holder Nicolas Almagro in an all-Spanish Buenos Aires Open final. No. 2 seed Almagro beat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the first semi-final, before top seed Ferrer’s crushing victory, which included a rain delay. Ferrer, runner-up two years ago, was always in control against former world No. 3 Nalbandian, who was looking to boost his ranking from 85th place in a bid to qualify for the London Olympics. The Spaniard, who has yet to drop a set in the tournament, won it when Nalbandian attempted a drop-shot which Ferrer just managed to reach to lift the ball over the Argentine and into the corner for victory.

  TENNIS

  Del Potro to face Llodra

  Argentine Juan Martin del Potro edged past local favorite and top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 6-7 (9/11), 6-3 to reach the final of the Marseille Open on Saturday. Fourth seed del Potro, who in the end had too much pace for Tsonga, set up a final with Michael Llodra after the Frenchman dismissed third seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-4, 7-6 (12/10) in their semi-final. Following an early exchange of breaks, world No. 10 del Potro stole Tsonga’s serve in the fifth game to claim the opening set in 50 minutes. The second set went with serve, with Tsonga eventually winning the resulting tiebreak. However, del Potro took advantage of Tsonga’s wayward shot selection early in the decider to break in the second game and the Argentine wrapped it up after conceding only three points on his serve in the set when Tsonga sent a backhand wide to end a match that lasted 2 hours, 48 minutes.

  ALPINE SKIING

  Blardone wins giant slalom

  Italian Massimiliano Blardone confirmed his return to form with victory in the giant slalom in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, yesterday ahead of World Cup leader Marcel Hirscher. The powerful Italian, dubbed “Superman” on the circuit, was the only favorite to master the tricky second run and he won in a combined time of 2 minutes, 33.77 seconds. It was Blardone’s second victory this season after his spectacular comeback in Alta Badia in December after two barren seasons. A lot was at stake for Hirscher as his two main rivals for the overall title were out of contention, and as a result the Austrian skied a conservative second run to secure the runner-up spot and 80 vital points in the championship.

  ALPINE SKIING

  Vonn pulls clear of field

  Lindsey Vonn of the US won a super-G in Bansko, Bulgaria, yesterday — her 10th World Cup victory of the season — to increase her lead in the discipline standings. The American won in 1 minute, 15.66 seconds, edging Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein, who finished 0.05 seconds behind. Italy’s Daniela Merighetti was third, 0.07 seconds back. Vonn was down 0.6 seconds at the first split and she struggled for control in the middle section, but she made up the deficit on the final section to clinch the win. Vonn holds a 94-point lead over Anna Fenninger going into this final super-G of the regular season, while her overall lead is a massive 528 points.

  SOCCER

  Mechelen retain eighth spot

  Taiwan international Xavier Chen’s KV Mechelen remained eighth in the Belgian Jupiler League on Saturday after a 3-1 victory away at 10-man KVC Westerlo. Chen was substituted late in the game.
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