U.S. in Davis Cup semis for 1st time since 2012
Jack Sock and Ryan Harrison put the United States in the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time since 2012 by beating Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 5-7, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (3), 6-4 on Saturday in Nashville to finish off a U.S. sweep of Belgium.
The United States will play either Croatia or Kazakhstan in the semifinals Sept. 14-16.
John Isner and Sam Querrey set up the doubles match for the clincher by winning both their singles matches Friday.
The United States is 5-0 alltime in the Davis Cup against Belgium.
In other quarterfinals, France took a 2-1 lead at Italy, Germany leads host Spain 2-1 and host Croatia took a 2-1 lead over Kazakhstan.
Rain postponed the semifinals matches of the Volvo Car Open in Charleston, S.C., with Julia Gorges and Anastasija Sevastova tied 4-4 in the opening set. On Sunday, Madison Keys will play Kiki Bertens in the morning followed by the conclusion of the Gorges-Sevastova match. After a doubles finals, the semifinal winners will play for the title.
ELSEWHERE Newgarden wins IndyCar race
In Avondale, Ariz., Josef Newgarden used four new tires to catch rookie Robert Wickens and win the Phoenix Grand Prix at ISM Raceway.
Newgarden started fourth on a restart with eight laps left, and got around Wickens with three laps left on the 1.022-mile oval. The defending series champion raced to his eighth IndyCar victory and third on an oval, finishing 2.994 seconds ahead of Wickens.
Wickens was making his first oval start, driving for Schmidt Peterson.
Alexander Rossi was third, followed by Scott Dixon and James Hinchcliffe as Honda swept the first five spots in the first oval race of the season.
Ryan Blaney became the third Team Penske driver in three races to win a NASCAR Xfinity Series race in the No. 22 Ford this season when he took the checkered flag on a chilly day at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
Blaney was the pole sitter and led for 132 of 200 laps. The Xfinity Series was back on the track after a two-week break since Joey Logano won in the No. 22 car in Fontana (San Bernardino County). That was a week after Brad Keselowski drove that Team Penske entry to Victory Lane in Phoenix.
Joe Gibbs Racing is the only team in the series to win three straight races with the same car and different drivers. Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin won consecutive races in their team’s No. 20 Toyota in 2008.
Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix followed by Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen. College hockey: Karson Kuhlman had a goal and an assist, and Minnesota-Duluth beat Notre Dame 2-1 in St. Paul, Minn., to win the school’s second NCAA hockey championship.
Jared Thomas also scored and Hunter Shepard stopped 19 shots for the Bulldogs (25-16-3). UMD also won the 2011 title at the Xcel Energy Center. Andrew Oglevie scored and Cale Morris made 33 saves for Notre Dame (28-10-2), winless in two national title games. The Irish lost to Boston College in 2008.
College baseball: Kyle Stowers got No. 2 Stanford (23-4, 6-2 Pac-12) started with a three-run homer in the first and Andrew Daschbach put the Cardinal up
by 10 runs with a three-run homer in the fifth, helping the visiting Cardinal defeat UCLA 13-11.
Aaron Shortridge pitched a six-hitter as Cal (18-11, 5-7) defeated visiting Utah 5-1. The victory completed 20 innings of play Saturday for the Bears, who won 7-6 in the completion of a game that was interrupted by rain Thursday before losing 12-10 in the first half of a doubleheader. College rugby: St. Mary’s defeated Cal 21-12 in Moraga in the regular-season finale. The Gaels (18-0) led from the start behind Sean Yacoubian’s kicking and will host a first-round game in the USA D1-A National Collegiate Rugby Playoffs next week. The Bears (19-2) had already clinched the PAC Rugby Conference and will host a first-round match next week. Football: Former Florida and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier plans to be back on the sideline if a proposed professional league, the Alliance of American Football, gets off the ground. The Orlando Alliance announced it hired Spurrier as its first head coach.
The Alliance is the creation of Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Polian and TV and film producer Charlie Ebersol. The league plans to have eight teams and will play a 12-week season starting Feb. 9, 2019. Games will be broadcast on CBS.