Freeman, 86, had long writing career

DALLAS — Retired longtime Associated Press sports writer Denne H. Freeman, whose 32 years with the AP included covering all five Super Bowl championships won by the Dallas Cowboys and many golf majors, has died after a series of health issues. He was 86.

Freeman's family said he died Friday night at a Plano hospital, where he was surrounded in his final hours by his wife, Judy, his son Danny and other family members.

The Dallas-based Freeman retired from the AP in the summer of 1999, ending a career in which he was also a golf writer who often traveled to the four majors: the Masters, U.S. Open, PGA Championship and British Open.

After joining the AP in 1967, he became the Texas Sports Editor a year later when Harold Ratliff retired. He went to the AP from UPI, where as a news reporter he was involved in the coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963.

A 1959 graduate of Texas A&M, Freeman served in the U.S. Army before beginning his full-time journalism career.

Freeman won a prestigious Headliner's Award for his coverage of Landry's firing by Jones after he bought the team in 1989.

An exclusive interview with famed golfer Ben Hogan in 1971 earned Freeman an AP National Award. He was chosen the Texas Sportswriter of the Year in 1980 and inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame last year.

TENNIS

U.S. advances in Davis Cup

The United States swept its way into the group stage of the Davis Cup Finals on Saturday, getting the winning point at Tashkent in a 4-0 victory over Uzbekistan from the doubles team of Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek.

They beat Sergey Fomin and Sanjar Fayziev 6-2, 6-4, after Tommy Paul and Mackenzie McDonald had won singles matches Friday in Tashkent.

Ram is No. 3 in the ATP Tour doubles rankings and partnered with Joe Salisbury to win the last two U.S. Open men's doubles titles.

But the Americans opted not to use Ram last year in the final round, when they dropped the doubles match in a 2-1 defeat against Italy in the quarterfinals.

Tsurenko reaches Thailand Open final:

Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine reached her first final in four years after the top-seeded Bianca Andreescu retired with a shoulder injury during their semifinal match at the Thailand Open at Hua Hin on Saturday.

Tsurenko, in search of her fifth WTA title, was leading the 2019 U.S. Open champion 7-5, 4-0 when the Canadian stopped playing.