Federer earns 6th Dubai title
Roger Federer won a record sixth Dubai Championships — and 78th career title — by beating Tomas Berdych, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, in the final Saturday in United Arab Emirates.
Federer, who maintains a home in Dubai, delighted a packed stadium of fans who seemed biased for Federer in back-to-back wins over Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and Berdych. Federer’s win, his sixth at Dubai in the past 12 years, extends his record of winning at least one title a year to 14 consecutive years.
More tennis
Grigor Dimitrov came back to beat second-seeded Andy Murray, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3), in a marathon match to book a spot in the Mexican Open final in Acapulco. Dimitrov, 22, of Bulgaria, will meet South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, who defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.
Top-seeded Tommy Haas retired with a shoulder injury while losing, 6-3, 3-2, to Paolo Lorenzi of Italy in the Brazil Open semifinals in Sao Paulo. Lorenzi, ranked 114th, will play in his first ATP final against 61st-ranked Federico Delbonis of Argentina, who got past home-crowd favorite Thomaz Bellucci, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4.
Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic won her third WTA singles title by coming from the brink of defeat to beat Garbine Muguruza, of Spain 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, in the Brazil Cup final in Florianopolis.
Gymnastics
American gymnasts Elizabeth Price and Sam Mikulak won the all-around titles at the American Cup in Greensboro, N.C. Price, an alternate on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team who has struggled with injuries the past 18 months, dominated at the only World Cup international gymnastics event held in the United States. Price finished with an all-around score of 59.966 points, ahead of American Brenna Dowell (57.532) and Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland (57.332). Japan’s Shogo Nonomura fell from the high bar, helping Mikulak, the defending national and NCAA men’s champion, earn his first career World Cup title with 90.098 points, 1.133 more than Nonomura.
Skiing
Canada’s Erik Guay won a World Cup downhill race in Kvitfjell, Norway, ahead of Frenchman Johan Clarey. Conditions were overcast and a little foggy as Guay had a time of 1:22.17 to put him 0.35 seconds ahead of Clarey and 0.57 quicker than Olympic downhill champion Matthias Mayer of Austria.
women’s World Cup downhill in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, was called off and moved to today, with the scheduled super-combined event cancelled.
Horse racing
Samraat improved to 5 for 5 with a victory in the $500,000 Gotham Stakes for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct in New York. The latest victory was worth 50 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, insuring him a spot in the Derby field assuming he remains healthy. Samraat paid $6.40, $3.90 and $2.40 as the 2-1 favorite. Uncle Sigh returned $4.20 and $3, and In Trouble paid $3.70 to show.
Boxing
Arthur Abraham (39-4, 28 knockouts) defeated Robert Stieglitz (46-4, 26 KOs) by split decision in Magdeburg, Germany, in their third bout to win back the WBO super middleweight title he lost a year ago by TKO to his fellow German. Two judges scored it 114-111 and 115110 for Abraham, while a third had it 113-112 in favor of the defending champion.