Croatia wins Davis Cup
Marin Cilic sealed Croatia’s victory over defending champion France in the Davis Cup final with a 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-3 win over Lucas Pouille on Sunday.
Cilic, a former U.S. Open champion, gave Croatia a 3-1 unassailable lead in the best-of-five series on indoor clay in northern France with a ruthless display.
Cilic lived up to his status of team leader this weekend, winning his two matches without dropping a set. He was surrounded by the whole Croatian team on the court and covered his shoulders with the Croatian flag after the country’s president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, warmly hugged him.
The Davis Cup final was played for the last time in its traditional format. Beginning next year, the top team event in men’s tennis will be decided with a season-ending, 18-team tournament at a neutral site.
VOLLEYBALL
The University of Wisconsin was seeded sixth nationally for the NCAA tournament on Sunday night and will host first- and second round matches at the UW Field House.
The Badgers (22-6) will play UW-Green Bay on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The other match pits Northern Iowa (24-9) against Pepperdine (21-8) at 5 p.m. The winners will play Friday at a time to be determined later.
Marquette University, the 14th seeded team, will also host first- and second round matches at the Al McGuire Center.
The Golden Eagles (26-6) take on High Point (21-9) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Cincinnati (25-7) faces Illinois State (25-7) in the opener at 4:30 p.m. The winners will play on Saturday at 7 p.m.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
UW-Whitewater will host Bethel on Saturday at noon in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III playoffs.
The Warhawks (12-0) have the second longest active win streak in Division III at 18-games.
Bethel (11-1) is an at-large qualifier from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and is making its fourth appearance in the tournament's final eight in the last 12 years.
SKIING
Mikaela Shiffrin powered through the fog in Killington, Vt., to win her third straight World Cup slalom race at the venue.
The 23-year-old from Colorado overcame tiny mistakes and got stronger near the finish with the home crowd cheering. Shiffrin finished in a combined time of 1 minute, 43.25 seconds to edge Petra Vlhova of Slovakia by 0.57 seconds. Sweden’s Frida Hansdotter finished third.
This was World Cup slalom win No. 34 for Shiffrin, tying her with Vreni Schneider for second among women in the discipline. The record of 35 is held by Austria’s Marlies Schild, one of Shiffrin’s childhood favorites.
Men: Kjetil Jansrud of Norway won the opening World Cup super-G of the season in Lake Louise, Alberta, as he began his quest to capture a third straight title in the discipline.
Jansrud darted down the course in 1 minute, 33.52 seconds to eclipse Vincent Kriechmayr of Austria by a 0.14-second margin.
AUTO RACING
World champion Lewis Hamilton coasted to victory from pole position at the year-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday, and in doing so equaled his personal best for a season with his 11th win of the campaign.
Having already secured a fifth F1 title, the British Mercedes driver beat Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel at the Yas Marina circuit to secure the 73rd win of his career.
He is contracted to Mercedes for the next two years at least, giving him a realistic chance of matching Michael Schumacher’s F1 record of 91 GP wins. Vettel is third all-time with 52.
GOLF
Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry of Belgium had a few anxious moments on the back nine but held on to shoot a 4-under 68 and claim a threestroke win at the World Cup, despite a determined late run by Australia and Mexico.
Pieters and Detry took a five-stroke lead into the final round of foursomes (alternate shot) at Metropolitan in Melbourne, Australia, and the lead was reduced by one when Detry missed a nervy threefooter on the par-3 second.
But they had an eagle and two birdies on the rest of the front nine and made the turn with their fivestroke advantage intact.