MALONE CRUISES TO 2ND STRAIGHT U.S. GYMNASTICS TITLE

Brody Malone cruised to his second national gymnastics title on Saturday night to cement his status atop the American men’s program with the Paris Olympics less than two years away.

The 22-year-old Malone posted a two-day total of 176.950 at Tampa, Fla., more than five points ahead of longtime national team member Donnell Whittenburg in second and teenager Asher Hong in third.

An Olympian for the first time last summer and a bronze medalist on the high bar at the world championships last fall, Malone has quickly grown comfortable as the standard-bearer for the U.S. men, a mantle he accepted following three-time Olympian Sam Mikulak’s retirement after the Tokyo Games.

Malone wasn’t quite as crisp on Saturday night as he was on Thursday when he took a massive five-point lead on the rest of the field, but it hardly mattered.

Spectacular on high bar and steady and efficient everywhere else, Malone competes with an unruff led poise.

At times it’s difficult to tell whether he’s in the middle of a major meet or just riffing at the end of practice.

Malone’s triumph automatically earned him a spot on the 2022 world championship team.

Tennis

Petra Kvitova outlasted American Madison Keys 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 in a two-hour, 17-minute match that saw the 32year-old Czech rally after dropping the first set to reach the Western & Southern Open final for the first time. Next up for Kvitova is Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, who won her seventh straight match 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 over sixth-seed Aryna Sabalenka.

On the men’s side, Crotian Borna Coric, who was ranked No. 152 and entered the event with a protected injury ranking, reached the final by defeating four seeds, including No. 9 Cameron Norrie in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in the semis.

Coric, the lowest seed to ever reach the finals in Cincinnati, faces a tall order in world No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas who defeated top-ranked

Daniil Medvedev 7-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the featured semifinal match.

Locally

Alex Morgan’s scoreless streak ended in the 13th minute and the San Diego Wave went on to a 3-1 NWSL victory over the Houston Dash at Torero Stadium. Houston opened the scoring in the seventh minute before Morgan’s goal tied it. Amirah Ali’s goal in the 67th minute was the game-winner and Sofia Jakobsson added an insurance tally at the 90-minute mark.

The San Diego Loyal scored a 3-1 USL Championship victory at El Paso.

Soccer

It was a milestone day for

Harry Kane in the Premier League. The Tottenham striker netted his 185th goal in the competition to seal a 1-0 win over Wolverhampton and become the top scorer for a single club in the Premier League’s 30-year history. The team is unbeaten after three games and second in the league. The only team above Spurs is Arsenal after its 3-0 win at Bournemouth for a third straight victory.

WNBA

Kahleah Copper scored 20 points and Courtney Vandersloot added 16 to help host Chicago to a record rout of New York 100-62 to even the first-round WNBA playoff series and force a decisive Game 3.

Chelsea Gray had 27 points and eight assists and hit a career-high seven of Las Vegas’ WNBA playoff-record 23 3-pointers and the host Aces beat the Phoenix Mercury 117-80 to sweep the bestof-three series.

Also

Former Florida forward Keyontae Johnson, who collapsed during a game in December 2020 and hasn’t played since, is headed to Kansas State to resume his college career.

Columbus Blue Jackets center Kent Johnson scored at 3:20 of three-on-three overtime to give Canada a 3-2 victory over Finland at Edmonton, Alberta, for its recordextending 19th world junior hockey title.