Alcaraz, Swiatek cruise to finals sweeps at Indian Wells
Carlos Alcaraz arrived at Indian Wells full of doubt about his twisted right ankle. He's leaving as a two-time champion.
He defeated Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (5), 6-1 for the second straight year in the BNP Paribas Open final on Sunday at Indian Wells, earning his first title since winning Wimbledon last year.
Iga Swiatek beat Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-0 in just more than an hour to win the women's title, with Swiatek losing just 21 games in six matches during the 12-day tournament — an average of 3.5 games per match.
Alcaraz sprained his ankle at the Rio Open in late February. His first practice at Indian Wells lasted 30 minutes without any movement. His first practice with his fellow pros “was really tough for me,” he said in a Tennis Channel interview.
Alcaraz outlasted Jannik Sinner in a three-set semifinal after needing three sets to get out of his second-round match.
“After every match I was feeling better,” Alcaraz said. “I was getting more confident after every match. Winning a Master 1000 again, a really important tournament to win, gives you motivation to keep going.”
Alcaraz became the first man to defend his Indian Wells title since Novak Djokovic won three in a row from 2014-16. He beat Medvedev 6-3, 6-2 last year in the BNP Paribas Open.
“It's definitely your court, you like it here,” Medvedev told Alcaraz during the victory ceremony. “Hopefully you can one day let me play a little bit better here.”
Medvedev led 3-0 in the first set while Alcaraz had eight unforced errors over those games. The Spaniard won three games in a row to tie it, 3-3.
The players held serve the rest of the set, with Alcaraz serving a love game to get into the tiebreaker. He led 3-0 and 5-2 before Medvedev tied it 5-5. Alcaraz won the next two points to close it out.
Alcaraz got the only two breaks in the second set, when Medvedev had one winner and nine errors.
For the match, Alcaraz hit 25 winners and had 26 unforced errors, while Medvedev had 11 winners and 23 unforced errors.
Swiatek improved to 20-2 this year, with her wins leading the WTA Tour.
It was a repeat of the 2022 final, in which Swiatek beat Sakkari 6-4, 6-1. Sakkari hasn't defeated the Polish star since 2021.
Swiatek raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set. Sakkari recovered to win three straight games, including a break of Swiatek. She served a love game to tie it, 4-4. Swiatek lost just two points on her serve the rest of the set, wrapping it up with a forehand winner in the corner.
Swiatek was more dominant in the second set, breaking Sakkari three times, all in love games. She lost just five points in the set.
Swiatek hit 15 winners and had 11 unforced errors in the 1 hour, 8-minute match. Sakkari had eight winners and 18 unforced errors.
Alcaraz and Swiatek earned $1.1 million each for their wins. That's less than the $1.26 million the women's and men's champions received in 2023. This year more prize money was allocated to the earlier rounds, reducing the champions' prize money by nearly 13%.
Hamlin earns his fourth NASCAR Cup win at Bristol
Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, passing Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. in the final laps for his fourth victory at the famed short track.
Hamlin also won at NASCAR's bullring last September.
This one was much different. Tire issues hampered most everyone all afternoon as only five cars finished on the lead lap — the first time that has happened in the Cup Series in 20 years.
The Gibbs cars were the class of the field.
“My favorite racetrack!” Hamlin exclaimed over his radio while taking the checkered flag. “We got another.”
He was booed — no surprise considering Hamlin has become arguably the series' biggest villain — as he stood atop his No. 11 Toyota following a smoky burnout.
It was Hamlin's 52nd career win and locks him into the playoffs. Brad Keselowski finished third in a Ford, Alex Bowman was fourth in a Chevrolet and Bowman's Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.
“It was weird,” Larson said. “I accidentally finished fifth. I'll take it. I hope I never have to run another race like that again.”
The other two Gibbs cars — driven by Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell — finished ninth and 10th, respectively.
The race was chaotic from the start, with cars burning through tires at such an alarming rate that NASCAR issued each team an extra set. That gave them 11 sets total, including the one used in qualifying.
It made for four hours of tire management that gave control to drivers and crew chiefs. It also led to the most lead changes (54) in NASCAR's short-track history, breaking the previous mark of 40 set in 1991 at Bristol.
JGR handled it better than the rest of the field.
“Our Toyotas are really working well right now,” Truex said.
NASCAR returned Bristol to “normal” for the first time in four years for the spring race. The track added red clay each of the last three years. Reviews were mixed, and as the novelty wore off, sub-par racing inside the high-banked oval overshadowed any excitement that came with the series running on dirt for the first time since 1970.
In an effort to improve the racing and make sure the track had two equal lanes, workers put down a resin-based traction compound through the turns. It was far from perfect.
Browns add QB Huntley
The ClevelandBrowns are taking the tough lessons they learned last season about quarterbacks to heart.
Cleveland agreed to terms on a one-year contract with former Baltimore Ravens QB Tyler Huntley, adding another veteran to give them more depth and protection behind Deshaun Watson.
Huntley is signing at the veteran's minimum salary with the Browns, who spent last season juggling quarterbacks when Watson hurt his shoulder and eventually had surgery after making just six starts.
The Browns started P.J. Walker, rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Joe Flacco, who signed as a free agent in November and led Cleveland to a playoff berth.
Last week, the team signed 2015 No. 1 overall pick Jameis Winston to back up Watson, who has been rehabbing in California since undergoing surgery in November. Flacco remains unsigned. Winston, Thompson-Robinson and Huntley will now stack up behind Watson, who has made only 12 starts since signing a $230million contract with Cleveland in 2022.
Huntley, 26, has been Lamar Jackson's primary backup the past three seasons. He went 3-7 in 10 starts for Baltimore. He started for an injured Jackson and lost a playoff game in the 2022 season, when he fumbled near the goal line and Cincinnati's Sam Hubbard returned it 98 yards for the winning touchdown.
Huntley has passed for 1,957 yards with eight TDs and seven interceptions in 20 regular-season games.
USMNT replaces 2 on roster
Forward Josh Sargent and midfielder Luca de La Torre will miss the United States' Nations League games because of injuries and were replaced on the roster by winger Brenden Aaronson and forward Haji Wright.
Sargent, who had been picked to return to the American team for the first time since the 2022 World Cup, injured his right ankle Saturday playing for Norwich at Stoke in England's second-tier
League Championship.
“Josh, his ankle is sore. He got another knock and a little bit of a twist,” Norwich manager David Wagner said.
De La Torre didn't dress for Celta Vigo's La Liga match at Sevilla on Sunday, and the team said he had discomfort in his left thigh.
The U.S. plays a semifinal against Jamaica on Thursday at Arlington, Texas. The Americans face Mexico or Panama three days later in either the championship or third-place match.
Aaronson was on the 2022 World Cup roster but has struggled during a loan this season from relegated Leeds to Germany's Union Berlin. He has made seven Bundesliga starts and 15 substitute appearances, scoring his second goal of the season in Saturday's 2-1 win over Werder Bremen.
Wright, who scored in the 3-1 loss to the Netherlands at the World Cup, has 13 goals this season for Coventry City in the League Championship. His 100thminute goal Saturday lifted Coventry over Wolverhampton 3-2 and into the FA Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 1987.
Gut-Behrami captures overall, giant slalom titles
Lara Gut-Behrami secured the women's World Cup overall and giant slalom titles after finishing 10th in the GS at the World Cup finals in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria.
Her only remaining challenger in both classifications, Federica Brignone, won the race but that was not enough for the Italian, who could overtake Gut-Behrami only if the Swiss star had finished outside the top 15 and failed to score points.
• Timon Haugan held on to his first-run lead to win the men's slalom at the World Cup finals, giving the Norwegian ski team its first victory of the season.
Haugan beat Manuel Feller, the winner of the discipline season title, by 0.40 seconds after the Austrian improved from fourth after the first run. Linus Strasser of Germany, who was second, dropped to third, 0.44 behind.