Nastase gets suspended
Ilie Nastase, the captain of Romania’s Fed Cup team, has been provisionally suspended from the competition for abusing players and the umpire during the playoff match against Britain.
The International Tennis Federation, which organizes the Fed Cup, said Sunday that Nastase “may not participate in the Fed Cup in any capacity with immediate effect.”
The 70-year-old Nastase was heard hurling expletives at British player Johanna Konta, Britain captain Anne Keothavong and the umpire during Konta’s match against Romania’s Sorana Cirstea on Saturday. Nastase was sent off the court by referee Andreas Egli and, after taking a seat in the stands, was then sent back to the locker room.
Nastase, a former world No. 1 in the 1970s, also publicly hurled insults at a British journalist in Constanta on Saturday, a day after apparently making racially offensive comments about Serena Williams’ pregnancy.
RUNNING
Kenyan runner Mary Keitany broke Paula Radcliffe’s women-only marathon world record on Sunday with a third victory in London, while Daniel
Wanjiru won the men’s race for the first time. The 35-year-old Keitany completed the 26.2-mile in 2 hours, 17 minutes and 1 second to shave 41 seconds off Radcliffe’s 12-year-old mark.
The retired British athlete still remains a worldrecord holder. Radcliffe fought six years ago with the IAAF to ensure her 2003 marathon time of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 25 seconds — with two male pacemakers — was still recognized as a record rather than just a world-best.
The men’s race saw the 24-year-old Wanjiru winning his first major marathon in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 48 seconds. That was nine seconds faster than Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia, while Bedan Karoki was third.
TENNIS
CoCo Vandeweghe and Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated Kristyna Pliskova and Katerina Siniakova, 6-2, 6-3, to send the United States to its first Fed Cup final in seven years with a 3-2 semifinal victory over three-time defending champion Czech Republic in Wesley Chapel. Fla.
The Americans will face Belarus, which won its semifinal against Switzerland, for the championship Nov. 11- 12.
Vandeweghe won her singles match for the second straight day, giving the U.S. a 2-1 lead in the bestof-five series. Marketa Vondrousova kept the Czech Republic’s hopes alive by defeating Lauren
Davis, 6-2, 7-5.
HOCKEY
The Los Angeles Kings promoted associated head coach John Stevens to become their next head coach.
Stevens replaces Darryl Sutter after serving as an assistant to two Kings head coaches over the past eight seasons, which included the franchise’s only two Stanley Cup championship runs. The Kings fired Sutter and general manager
Dean Lombardi nearly two weeks ago in a remarkable housecleaning after the regular season ended without a playoff berth.
SWIMMING
USA Swimming executive director Chuck Wielgus, who led a federation that brought home 156 Olympic medals during his 20 years at the helm, died Sunday. He was 67.
USA Swimming said Wielgus died in Colorado Springs, Colo., of complications from colon cancer. The cancer was first diagnosed in 2006 and Wielgus underwent regular chemotherapy while leading USA Swimming to record growth. He was due to retire in August.