Zverev will face Medvedev for ATP crown

Forthe second time this year,Alexander Zverev has deniedNovak Djokovic the chanceto play for a big trophy.Followingup his win overthe top-ranked player in thesemifinals of the Tokyo Olympics,Zverev beat Djokovic,7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3, at the same stageof the ATP Finals Saturdayin Turin, Italy.

Theresult means Djokovic can’tmatch Roger Federer’s recordof six titles at the season-endingevent for the top eightplayers. At least not this year.

U.S.Open champion Daniil Medvedev,who won the season-endingevent for the top eightplayers a year ago, will playZverev in Sunday’s final. Thesecond-ranked Russian beatfirst-time qualifier CasperRuud, 6-4, 6-2, to advanceto the championship match.

Auto racing

LewisHamilton and Mercedesmoved a bit closer to reclaimingcontrol of the FormulaOne championship race byquickly figuring out the newestcircuit on the calendar.Hamiltonovercame a naggingstomachache Saturdayto beat rival Max Verstappenfor the pole at the inauguralQatar Grand Prix in Losail,this week’s host for F1’s dramatictitle fight.

Verstappenqualified secondfor Red Bull and Valtteri Bottas,teammate of Hamilton’sat Mercedes, was third. Butboth drivers, along with CarlosSainz who qualified seventh,went into Sunday underinvestigation for violating yellowflag rules in qualifying.

Eachwas summoned to a preracemeeting with stewards.

Verstappenalready skirted apenalty once this weekend whenMercedes was denied a bidto have Verstappen retroactivelypenalized for running Hamiltonoff course last week inBrazil. Verstappen holds a 14-pointlead with three races remaining.

Soccer

KelleyO’Hara scored in the 97thminute and the WashingtonSpirit won the National Women’sSoccer League championshipwith a 2-1 extra-timevictory against the ChicagoRed Stars.

•Nicolas Isimat-Mirin scoredhis first MLS goal as SportingKansas City beat the visitingVancouver Whitecaps,3-1, in the opening round ofthe MLS Cup Playoffs

•Jakob Glesnes scored late inextra time and the No. 2seededPhiladelphia Union outlastedthe visiting seventhseededNew York Red Bulls, 10,in Round One.

Figure skating

Teenage world champion Anna Shcherbakova of Russia overcame an early tumble to clinch her second Grand Prix gold medal of the season by winning the ISU GP in Grenoble, France. Yuma Kagiyama of Japan, the 2021 world silver medalist, later defended his strong lead from the short program to win the men’s competition.

Skiing

PetraVlhova beat AmericanMikaela Shiffrin in the firstWorld Cup slalom of the seasonin Levi, Finland.