U.S. to Fed Cup final, Nadal wins in Monaco
CoCo Vandeweghe and Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated Kristyna Pliskova and Katerina Siniakova 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday in Wesley Chapel, Fla., to send the United States to its first Fed Cup final in seven years with a 3-2 semifinal victory over threetime defending champion Czech Republic.
The Americans will face Belarus, which won its semifinal against Switzerland, for the championship of the international women’s tennis team competition Nov. 11- 12.
Earlier Sunday, Vandeweghe won her singles match for the second straight day, giving the U.S. a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series. Marketa Vondrousova kept the Czech Republic’s hopes alive by defeating Lauren Davis 6-2, 7-5 in Sunday’s other singles match at Saddlebrook Resort.
Defending champion Rafael Nadal beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1, 6-3 in an all-Spanish final to win the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco for the 10th time. It was the 70th title of Nadal’s career and his first of the season.
Newgarden takes Alabama GP race
Josef Newgarden won the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama in Birmingham for Team Penske, with help from a teammate’s misfortune. Newgarden’s win was his second at Alabama in three years and gave Chevrolet its first win of the season.
The new Penske driver didn’t allow second-place finisher Scott Dixon an opening over the final stretch after moving to the front when teammate Will Power was forced to pit with a punctured left rear tire with 14 laps to go.
NASCAR postponed the Monster Energy Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee because of heavy rain. The race was rescheduled for 10 a.m. PDT on Monday. College baseball: Cal freshman Andrew Vaughn hit his second walk-off homer in three days, a two-run shot in the 10th inning that gave the Bears (19-18, 11-7 Pac-12) a 6-4 win over USC (1820, 5-10). His ninth-inning grand slam gave Cal a 13-9 win over the Trojans on Friday.
Mikey Diekroeger went 4for-4 with two RBIs for Stanford (23-12, 8-7 Pac-12) in a 10-4 win that completed a threegame sweep at No. 25 Oregon (23-13, 6-9). College football: Georgia has dumped one of its signees shortly after he was charged with assaulting the mother of their infant child in Athens, Ga. Coach Kirby Smart said offensive lineman D’Antne Demery was released from his national letter of intent, ending his career with the Bulldogs before it began. Deaths: USA Swimming executive director Chuck Wielgus, who led a federation that brought home 156 Olympic medals during his 20 years at the helm, died at 67 in Colorado Springs, Colo., of complications from colon cancer.
A college student died after being struck during a hammerthrow event at a track meet in Wheaton, Ill. Wheaton College officials say Ethan Roser, 19, was volunteering at the competition Saturday when he was accidentally struck by a hammer.