Serena wins 1st tourney title since ’17
Serena Williams ended a three-year title drought when she beat fellow American Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday to win the singles final at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.
Williams hadn’t won a title since the Australian Open in January 2017, and not since she became a mother to her daughter Olympia, who was court-side to see the victory.
“It feels good.
Williams said. “I relief on my face.”
The 23-time Grand Slam winner donated her $43,000 winner’s check to the fundraising appeal for victims of Australian wildfires, joining many other tennis stars.
It’s been a long time,” think you can see the
World No. 2 Novak Djokovic beat top-ranked Rafael Nadal and then went back on court within an hour and won the deciding doubles encounter to secure Serbia’s victory over Spain in the inaugural ATP Cup final in Sydney.
Baseball: The Rangers and free-agent 3B Todd Frazier, 33, reached an agreement on a one-year, $5 million contract, ESPN reported.
College football: Clemson starting DT Nyles Pinckney may miss Monday’s national championship game against LSU with an ankle injury. He didn’t practice Saturday . ... Notre Dame sophomore QB Phil Jurkovec plans to transfer to Boston College, according to reports. Jurkovec, who served as a backup the last two seasons, must sit out next season.
Golf: Branden Grace fired a final-round 62 to win the South African Open in Johannesburg by three shots from fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen. It was the ninth career European Tour title for Grace.
Soccer: Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid in a penalty shootout to win the Spanish Super Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Madrid won Sunday’s shootout 4-1 after the final ended 0-0 after extra time . ... Sergio Aguero became the top-scoring foreign player in English Premier League history, scoring a hat trick to help Manchester City rout host Aston Villa 6-1. The 31-year-old Argentinian now has 177 goals. City, the two-time defending league champ, moved into a distant second place.
— News services