Zverev advances to semis; Nadal eliminated

LONDON >> Defending champion Alexander Zverev secured the last semifinal spot at the ATP Finals Friday, eliminating Rafael Nadal in the process.

Zverev beat already eliminated Daniil Medvedev

6-4, 7-6 (4) at the O2 Arena to finish second behind Stefanos Tsitsipas in the group and set up a semifinal against Dominic Thiem.

Earlier, Nadal stayed in contention by rallying to beat Tsitsipas 6-7 (4), 6-4,

7-5 for his second win of the round-robin stage.

But Zverev’s win left him, Nadal, and Tsitispas with identical 2-1 records — with the top-ranked Spaniard eliminated based on the tournament’s tiebreaker rules.

It means only one of tennis’ Big Three made the semifinals as Novak Djokovic was also eliminated on Thursday.

Source: Pirates agree to hire Cherington as GM

PITTSBURGH >> The Pirates have agreed to hire Ben Cherington as their general manager, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.

Pittsburgh scheduled a news conference on Monday to introduce its new GM without revealing the person’s identity. Cherington will replace Neal Huntington, who was hired in 2007 and fired in October.

Cherington, 45, took over from Theo Epstein as GM of the Boston Red Sox in October 2011. Cherington helped the Red Sox win the 2013 Series but left in August 2015 when Boston hired Dave Dombrowski as president of baseball operations. Boston finished last in the AL East in three of Cherington’s

four seasons as GM.

Swimming star defends not taking test

MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND >> One of China’s biggest Olympic stars fought for his right to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Games during a rare public hearing that turned combative at times, as champion swimmer Sun Yang defended his refusal to complete a doping test last year.

During a 10-hour session marred at times by translation problems, Sun maintained that inspectors drawing blood and urine samples failed to have proper identification papers.

The interpretation issues in both English and Chinese brought a halt to the landmark Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing several times, frustrating lawyers for both sides during Sun’s opening cross-examination. Sun’s mother later took the stand, at one point admonishing lawyers, “I haven’t finished yet.”

Lee settles for 62

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, MEXICO >> Danny Lee was 10-under par through 13 holes and had to settle for a 9-under

62 for a one-shot lead in the Mayakoba Classic.

Lee shot 29 on the front nine of El Camaleon and started thinking about a

sub-60 round when he birdied the par-5 13th hole. He then had a downhill birdie putt from 15 feet on the next hole. He ran that 3 feet by and missed it coming back. He finished with four pars.

Lombard up 2 shots

SUN CITY, SOUTH AFRICA >> Zander Lombard shot a 7-under-par 65 to overtake fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen and take a twoshot lead after two rounds at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.