Off the wire

MOTOR SPORTS Carpenter fastest qualifier

Two-time pole winner Ed Carpenter had the fastest car in Indianapolis 500 qualifying Saturday with a four-lap average of 230.468 mph. He finished just ahead of Takuma Sato and 2008 race winner Scott Dixon. Sato was second at 230.382. Dixon was third at 230.333. All times will be erased for today’s nine-car pole shootout. Qualifying was marred by a frightening crash that sent Sebastien Bourdais to the hospital complaining of pain in his right leg. The Frenchman hit the SAFER barrier in the second turn head-on. He had topped 231 mph on his two previous laps. Drivers from Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Autosport took six of the top nine spots. Two-time Formula One champ Fernando Alonso was seventh at 230.034. Will Power was the only Team Penske driver to make the shootout. Roger Penske’s drivers have won all five poles this season with Power taking three and Helio Castroneves taking two. Defending 500 champ Alexander Rossi had the fifth-fastest time at 230.148.

TENNIS Djokovic, Zverev to meet

Novak Djokovic won twice on Saturday to play for another title at the Italian Open in Rome. It will be his first final since January. Djokovic, the four-time champion, will play Alexander “Sascha” Zverev, the youngest Masters Series finalist at 20 since Djokovic won Miami a decade ago at 19. The day could have dragged on for Djokovic, but he closed out Juan Martin del Potro quickly 6-1, 6-4 in their quarterfinal suspended overnight because of rain. He resumed 6-1, 1-2 up. Then about seven hours later in the semifinals Djokovic dispatched Dominic Thiem of Austria 6-1, 6-0. Zverev beat American veteran John Isner 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1 with an all-court game that has prompted many experts to predict he’ll reach No. 1 some day. On the women’s side, fourth-ranked Simona Halep

advanced to the final and extended her clay-court winning streak to 10 matches by beating Kiki Bertens

of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-1. Halep will face 11th-ranked Elina Svitolina of Ukraine for the trophy after French Open champion Garbine Muguruza retired due to a neck injury after only 20 minutes. Svitolina led 4-1.

HOCKEY Canada, Sweden in final

Two-time defending champion Canada and Sweden will contest the final of the ice hockey world championship after winning their semifinals in contrasting style on Saturday. Canada stunned Russia by coming from two goals down in the third period to win 4-2, while Sweden enjoyed an easy 4-1 victory over Finland. Nate MacKinnon

led the Canadian revival, setting up Mark Scheifele on a power play, then equalizing with his sixth goal of the tournament. Ryan O’Reilly

scored the game-winner in a goalmouth scramble with only 3:02 remaining. Sean Couturier made sure with an empty net goal. Sweden got off to a great start when Nicklas Backstrom set up Alexander Edler inside the first two minutes before Joonas Kemppainen equalized for Finland. The Swedes made the most of penalties to go ahead in a bad-tempered second period, which ended in a brawl, and both teams had players penalized for roughing. Finland pushed hard in the final period but Joakim Nordstrom sealed it with six minutes remaining.

Getzlaf fined for slur

Anaheim Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf has been fined $10,000 for apparently using a homophobic slur during Game 4 of the Western Conference finals. The NHL announced the fine Saturday, shortly before Game 5 against the Nashville Predators. Getzlaf was captured by television cameras appearing to shout the inappropriate remark in frustration with an official after returning to Anaheim’s bench during overtime. One year ago, Chicago forward Andrew Shaw was suspended for one game and fined $5,000 for directing a homophobic slur toward an official during a playoff game. Getzlaf avoided a suspension, but his fine is the maximum allowable under the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NHLPA. The veteran center is the Ducks’ leading scorer with 18 points in 15 playoff games.

BASKETBALL Kanter detained, released

Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter is returning to the United States after being detained in a Romanian airport. Romanian Border Police spokesman Fabian Badila confirmed to The Associated Press that the player left Romania for the United States via London on Saturday. Kanter, who is from Turkey, said in a video Saturday morning on his Twitter account that the Turkish embassy canceled his passport and he’d been detained for several hours at a Romanian airport. Kanter said he believed he was held because of his political views. He’s been a critic of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kanter supports Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who opposes Erdogan. Kanter has been one of the NBA’s best reserves the past two years. This season, he averaged 14.3 points and 6.7 rebounds.

CYCLING Bennett wins Tour

Evan Huffman emerged from the breakaway for the second time this week to win the final stage of the Tour of California, and George Bennett finished safely in the chasing group to win the overall race on Saturday. Huffman and Rally Cycling teammate Rob Britton were the main agitators on the fourth stage to Santa Clarita, when they swept the top two spots on the podium. They were at it again Saturday as part of a five-man breakaway that survived to the finish in Pasadena. Huffman was followed by David Lopez Garcia, Nicolas Edet, Lachlan Morton and Britton, while the chasing group that included all the overall contenders finished 22 seconds behind. That allowed Bennett to hold off Rafal Majka and Andrew Talansky for the yellow jersey.

FOOTBALL Zimmer has surgery No. 8

Minnesota Vikings Coach Mike Zimmer had the eighth surgery on his right eye this week. Zimmer, speaking at his foundation’s first youth football camp, told reporters Saturday at Winter Park, Minn., that he had “another little surgery” on Wednesday. Earlier this month, Zimmer revealed that he had undergone seven total procedures on his eye since Nov. 1 of last year. He has also said he will need cataract surgery on his eye at some point. Asked Saturday if this would be the last one, he shrugged. “I thought that before,” Zimmer said. “We’ll see.” He said in March that there is a “high likelihood” that he will experience similar vision issues in his other eye. Zimmer, who has a 26-22 record as Vikings coach, turns 61 next month.