Auger-Aliassime leads Canada past Italy into Davis Cup final
MÁLAGA, SPAIN » Felix Auger-Aliassime led Canada to its second ever Davis Cup final after winning both his singles and doubles rubbers in a 2-1 fightback over Italy on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Auger-Aliassime, whose four career titles have all come this year, will look to finish off his season by leading Canada to its first Davis Cup title on Sunday when it faces Australia.
Lorenzo Sonego ground out a 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-4 victory over Denis Shapovalov in 3 hours, 15 minutes to put Italy ahead.
Auger-Aliassime pulled the Canadians level by seeing off Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-4, sending it to doubles in front of 9,000 spectators in Málaga, Spain.
The sixth-ranked Auger-Aliassime could barely rest before he teamed up with Vasek Pospisil to defeat Matteo Berrettini and Fabio Fognini 7-6 (2), 7-5. The Canadians recovered from breaks in each set.
Donovan, Beasley voted into Hall
FRISCO, TEXAS » Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley were elected to the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame and will be inducted May 6 along with Lauren Cheney Holiday.
Donovan, 40, was a midfielder and forward who scored 57 goals in 157 international appearances from 2000-14. Beasley, 40, became the first American to play in four World Cups: 2002, ‘06, ‘10 and ‘14.
Gut-Behrami wins; Shiffrin 13th
KILLINGTON, VT. » World champion Lara Gut-Behrami improved on her second run to win her first World Cup giant slalom in more than six years, with Mikaela Shiffrin finishing 13th.
Gut-Behrami was third in the opening run, but just did enough to edge out Marta Bassino of Italy by 0.07 seconds. Defending Olympic champion Sara Hector, who had led after the opening run, was third — 0.20 behind Gut-Behrami.
Shiffrin — who won the two season-opening slalom races last weekend — was 1.4 seconds back on home snow, and the passionate crowd will be expecting more on Sunday.
Smith takes 3-stroke lead
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA » British Open champion Cameron Smith had a topsy-turvy round of 2-under 69 to take a three-stroke lead into the final round of the Australian PGA.
Smith had six birdies and four bogeys — including two in a row on 11 and 12 that saw his lead reduced to just one — before another bogey on the 18th to finish with a 54-hole total of 11-under 202 at Royal Queensland.
Liu Yanwei (70) of China and Masahiro Kawamura (71) of Japan were tied for second.
Kilde wins rescheduled downhill
LAKE LOUISE, ALBERTA » Speed specialist Aleksander Aamodt Kilde won the rescheduled first downhill of the season.
The Norwegian skier edged out Daniel Hemetsberger of Austria by 0.06 seconds in Lake Louise, Alberta. Defending overall World Cup champion Marco Odermatt was third, 0.10 behind Kilde.
Kilde, 30, won the discipline titles in downhill and super-G last season.