Off the wire
TENNIS U.S. advances in Fed Cup
Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin was hoping not to have to take the court again after falling short in her singles match. After Serena Williams was defeated for the first time in a Fed Cup singles match, it was left to Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands to get the United States into the Fed Cup Finals. Kenin and Mattek-Sands teamed up for a 6-4, 6-0 doubles victory over Jelena Ostapekno and
Anastasija Sevastova to give the U.S. a 3-2 win over Latvia in their Fed Cup qualifying match late Saturday night in Everett, Wash. It was a more challenging day than expected for the Americans, who held a 2-0 lead entering the second day of singles matches. But Ostapenko beat Kenin in three sets, and Sevastova followed with a stunning three-set victory over Williams. Kenin took the place of Alison Riske in doubles, her third match in barely 24 hours. While she may have looked fatigued in her three-set loss to Ostapenko earlier in the day, Kenin found a boost teaming with the energetic Mattek-Sands and clinched the Americans a trip to Budapest, Hungary, for the finals in April.
Monfils captures Sud de France
Gael Monfils beat Vasek Pospisil 7-5, 6-3 on Sunday to win the Open Sud de France title for a third time, equaling French countryman
Richard Gasquet’s tournament record. The ninth-ranked Mon- fils saved all four break points he faced in winning his first title of the season and ninth of his career. Monfils improved to 6-0 in career matches against Pospisil, ranked No. 132 and still searching for his first career title. He has lost both finals in his career.
HORSE RACING Baffert horse wins San Vicente
Nadal won the $200,000 San Vicente Stakes by three-quarters of a length on Sunday, giving trainer Bob Baffert another Kentucky Derby possibility. Ridden by Joel
Rosario, Nadal ran seven furlongs in 1:22.59 and paid $2.60 to win as the 1-5 favorite in the sixhorse field. It was Baffert’s record 10th win in the prep for the Santa Anita Derby in April. Ginobili finished second, while Fast Enough was third. Storm the Court, last year’s 2-year-old male champion, finished fourth as the 3-1 second choice. Storm the Court was beaten 21/2 lengths. Baffert said Nadal is likely headed to Oaklawn in Hot Springs for the Rebel Stakes on March 14. The victory, worth $120,000, increased Nadal’s career earnings to $153,000 with two wins in two starts.
GOLF Pereira earns Korn Ferry victory
Mito Pereira of Chile made eagle on the par-5 18th hole Sunday to close with a 7-under 64 and win the Country Club de Bogota (Colombia) Championship on Korn Ferry Tour by two shots over Ben Kohles. It was a big step toward a PGA Tour card for Pereira, who tied for third last week in Panama in his first Korn Ferry Tour start of the season. Kohles birdied the 16th and 17th holes to tie Pereira for the lead.
Kohles had to lay up on the par-5 closing hole and settled for par and a 65, as Pereira made his eagle for the victory. Pereira also made eagle on the 355-yard fourth hole. Pereira finished at 20-under 263. He moved to No. 2 on the points list behind Davis Riley. The top 25 at the end of the regular season earn PGA Tour cards. John Chin shot 68 and finished third, while
Camilo Villegas of Colombia had a 69 to tie for fourth.
More tournaments canceled
The LPGA Tour has canceled two more tournaments in Asia because of the coronavirus, knocking out three of the five tournaments that comprise its first international swing. The LPGA said Sunday night the Honda LPGA Thailand, scheduled for Feb. 20-23, and the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore, scheduled for the following week, have been canceled. It previously postponed the Blue Bay LPGA on Hainan Island in China over concerns about the new type of coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, China. Mainland China reported another rise in cases with deaths increasing by 97 to 908. China’s health ministry said 40,171 people have been affected on the mainland.
SKIING Suter captures super-G
A month ago Corinne Suter had not won a women’s World Cup downhill or super-G race in her career, now the Swiss skier is leading the season standings in both disciplines. Suter got her first win in a super-G on Sunday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, four weeks after winning her first downhill. Suter coped with tricky conditions on the Kandahar course to beat Austria’s Nicole Schmidhofer by 0.43 seconds and her Swiss teammate Wendy Holdener by seven tenths. Suter became the fifth different winner in five super-G races this season. The Swiss skier finished third in a race in Lake Louise, Alberta, in December and Sunday’s victory sent her top of the discipline standings, 39 points clear of Italy’s Federica Brignone.
Meillard claims GS finale
Loic Meillard won the last men’s World Cup parallel giant slalom of the season on Sunday in Chamonix, France, to wrap up the discipline title. Meillard beat
Thomas Tumler by 0.25 seconds in an all-Swiss final of the event, which has a knockout format and sees two competitors race side-byside on identical, shortened giant slalom courses, with run times just over 20 seconds. Meillard placed ninth in the only other parallel GS this season, in Alta Badia in December. Most racers who did well in the previous event, including winner
Rasmus Windingstad, went out early on Sunday, opening the way to the discipline title for Meillard. The Swiss skier had four previous podium results on the World Cup, most recently in a regular giant slalom in Garmisch-Partenkirchen last week, but Sunday’s win was his first. Alexander Schmid beat Tommy Ford of the United States by 0.28 in the small final for the German’s first career top-three result.
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS Jones takes down Reyes
Jon Jones retained his title at UFC 247, beating Dominick Reyes by unanimous decision. After the bout, opinions on the outcome were anything but unanimous. Jones retained his light heavyweight belt Saturday night following a surprisingly strong opening by Reyes. The unanimous decision of 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 was met with scattered applause and loud boos from the crowd, as many felt the challenger had proven enough to take the title. UFC President Dana
White said he believes Reyes deserves a rematch. Jones (26-1-1) handed the fourth-ranked Reyes (12-1) his first loss, improving to 14-0 in title fights. He became the all-time leader in UFC title defenses, breaking the record previously held by Georges St-Pierre.