Off the wire

TENNIS Gauff claims titles in Italy

American teenager Coco Gauff stormed to her second career singles title as she dispatched Wang Qiang 6-1, 6-3 at the Emilia-Romagna Open in Parma, Italy, in her first clay-court final on Saturday. The 17-year-old Gauff also won the doubles title with Caty McNally later Saturday, becoming the youngest player to complete the singles/doubles sweep in nearly 17 years, since Maria Sharapova won both titles in Birmingham in 2004. That was just 92 days after Gauff was born. Gauff and McNally beat Darija Jurak and Andreja Klepac 6-3, 6-2. In the singles final, Gauff needed just 74 minutes to beat her Chinese opponent. She won more than three-quarters of her first-service points and fended off each of the four break points she faced against the 48th-ranked Wang.

Ruud captures Geneva title

Casper Ruud warmed up for the French Open by winning the Geneva Open final on Saturday, beating Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (6), 6-4. The third-seeded Ruud served more cleanly and allowed no breakpoint chances to second-seeded Shapovalov. A second career title lifted Ruud’s record to 2-2 in finals, all at clay-court events. The 22-yearold Norwegian’s previous title was at Buenos Aires last year.

MOTOR SPORTS Busch claims 98th Xfinity win

Kyle Busch turned in a dominating performance to win the NASCAR Xfinity race at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, with lessons learned for maybe an even bigger victory later in the weekend. Busch, looking to get some extra laps and much-needed track experience before the NASCAR Cup Series race, stepped into the Xfinity lineup and crushed the field from the pole position with a pace and road course mastery that left little doubt about the outcome from the opening laps. Busch led 36 of 46 laps and finished 11 seconds ahead of A.J. Allmendinger for his record 98th Xfinity victory and 217th in NASCAR’s top three series. NASCAR’s inaugural race weekend at the 3.4-mile track built for Formula One is pushing drivers to quickly learn its 20 turns, s-curves and elevation changes. Busch had cut through the wet conditions in the morning to earn pole position and was just as dominant when the sun came out. Ross Chastain started second and challenged Busch from the start through the first corner. But his race was done early as he broke an axle when he left the track in the first lap and his car limped back to the garage.

Gilliland wins trucks race

Todd Gilliland powered through wet conditions early, then grabbed the lead late to pull away for his first NASCAR trucks series victory of the season Saturday at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Gilliland was in a four-car group that drew away from the pack at the start of the final stage, then overtook Sheldon Creed, Tyler Ankrum and Ka Grala over the final laps. This was his second career trucks win and first since 2019. Gilliland, 21, started fifth and overcame a penalty that briefly put him in the back of the field. The victory also marked the first of any kind for a NASCAR series race at the Circuit of the Americas.

GOLF Two share LPGA lead

Wei-Ling Hsu birdied the final hole Saturday for a 6-under 65 and a share of the third-round lead with Moriya Jutanugarn in the LPGA Tour’s Pure Silk Championship. Jutanugarn eagled the par-5 seventh in a 65 to match Hsu at 10-under 203 on Kingsmill Resort’s firm and fast River Course in Williamsburg, Va. The 26-year- old Hsu, from Taiwan, is winless on the LPGA Tour. Jutanugarn, also 26, won the 2018 LA Open for her lone title. Jessica Korda was a stroke back, birdieing three of the last four in a 67. Lizette Salas shot a 64 to join second-round leader Sarah Kemp (69) at 8 under. Salas won the 2014 tournament. Giulia Molinaro (63), Ryann O’Toole (66) and Lauren Stephenson (67) were 7 under. Stacy Lewis ( Arkansas Razorbacks) fell from a tie for second into a tie for 19th after her round of 2-over 73 on Saturday. Lewis is at 3-under 210.

Young on top in Kansas City

Cameron Young shot a 4-under 68 on Saturday and will take a twoshot lead into today’s final round of the Korn Ferry Tour’s Advent-Health Championship at the Blue Hills Country Club in Kansas City, Mo. Young is at 15-under 201 after three rounds. Dawie van der Walt moved into seconds place with a 6-under 66 on Saturday and stands at 13-under 203. Former University of Arkansas golfers David Lingmerth and Nicolas Echavarria are among four golfers tied for 11th at 8-under 208. Echavarria shot a 70 on Saturday while Lingmerth turned in a 71. Tag Ridings (Razorbacks) shot a 75 on Saturday and is at 1-over 217.

Biles returns in good form

Simone Biles and her ever-expanding array of signature skills sure look ready for the Tokyo Olympics. The reigning world and Olympic champion returned to competition for the first time in more than 18 months by cruising to victory at the U.S. Classic in Indianapolis on Saturday night. The 24-year-old’s all-around score of 58.400 — easily the best of the night in a crowded field of seniors trying to join Biles on the U.S. Olympic team this summer — was almost beside the point. The Yurchenko double pike vault has historically only been done by men. Not anymore. Biles sprinted down the runway, did a roundoff onto the springboard followed by a back handspring onto the vault, finishing with two backflips with her legs ramrod straight and her hands seemingly magnetized to her hamstrings. Biles had so much momentum when she landed that she hopped back a step or two. No matter. Her score of 16.100 was higher than either of her gold medal-winning vaults at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

BASEBALL MLB hits 20,000 players

There was a big number reached in Major League Baseball during the San Diego Padres’ 16-1 blowout over Seattle, and it had nothing to do with runs. Because when Mariners backup catcher Jose Godoy made his big-league debut Friday night, he became the 20,000th player in MLB history. There was no fanfare at Petco Park when Godoy came in to catch in the bottom of the sixth inning with the Mariners trailing 12-1. The 26-year-old from Venezuela who signed with St. Louis in 2011 and joined the Seattle system last winter grounded out and walked in his two plate appearances. The Mariners got in the spirit marking the occasion with a “Jeopardy!”-style answer to: “Who is Jose Godoy?” “Welcome to the show and baseball trivia lore, Jose!” it said.

HOCKEY Islanders tie series at 2-2

Ilya Sorokin stopped 29 shots, Oliver Wahlstrom and Ryan Pulock each had a goal and an assist and the New York Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 in Game 4 Saturday to even the firstround series. Josh Bailey and Jordan Eberle also scored for New York. Zach Aston-Reese scored for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry made 23 saves.

Lightning take 3-1 lead

Alex Killorn scored two second-period goals and the Tampa Bay Lightning rebounded from a loss to rout the Florida Panthers 6-2 and grab a 3-1 series lead. The reigning Stanley Cup champions pushed their intrastate rivals to the brink of elimination by scoring three first-period goals, then building their advantage to 5-1 when Killorn beat goalie Sergei Bobrovsky twice in 1:34 to break it open. Nikita Kucherov had a goal and three assists, Anthony Cirelli, Yanni Gourde and Ondrej Palat also scored and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 39 shots. Jonathan Huberdeau and Carter Verhaeghe had power-play goals for Florida.

Leafs roll, tie series

Auston Matthews broke a tie early in the second period and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-1 in Game 2 to even the first-round playoff series. Matthews also had an assist, William Nylander added a goal and an assist, and Jason Spezza, Rasmus Sandin and Alexander Kerfoot also scored. Jack Campbell stopped 22 shots, and Mitch Marner had two assists.

Knights shut out Wild

Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves for his 16th career postseason shutout, Nicolas Roy scored twice and Vegas beat Minnesota 4-0 in Game 4 to take a 3-1 series lead. Alex Tuch and Mark Stone each got their third goal of the series, and Keegan Kolesar had two assists for the Golden Knights.