Altidore scores twice as U.S. advances
scored twice in a three-minute span of the second half, and each had a goal and the United States men’s national soccer team beat Trinidad and Tobago 4-0 on Tuesday night in Jacksonville, Florida, to reach the final round of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.
The Americans (4-1-1) finished atop Group C of the semifinal round in the North and Central American and Caribbean region and will open the hexagonal on Nov. 11 against Mexico — presumably in Columbus, Ohio, where the U.S. has won four straight qualifiers over El Tri by 2-0 scores.
made his first U.S. start after seven appearances as a substitute, and at 17 years, 353 days became the youngest American to start a qualifier.
had set the mark of 18 years, 184 days against Honduras in 2001.
Pulisic showed pace and an ability to take on defenders down the left flank, assisting on Altidore’s second goal. The U.S. extended its home unbeaten streak in qualifying to 32 games since 2001 (30-0-2).
started in goal, making his 32nd World Cup qualifying appearance and moving past for the most among American goalkeepers.
Auto rACing
was cleared Tuesday to race for the IndyCar championship in two weeks after a crash over the weekend at Watkins Glen left him with concussion-like symptoms. Power trails leader by 43 points with only the finale at Sonoma on Sept. 18 remaining. The two Team Penske drivers are the only ones in contention for the championship.
Colleges
Center announced on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” on Tuesday that he was committing to Arizona over Kansas and Kentucky. The 7-footer is the consensus No. 1 senior boys high school basketball player in the Class of 2017. Ayton plays at Hillcrest Academy in Phoenix, where he averaged 21 points, 16 rebounds and nearly four blocked shots per game last season.
University of Memphis senior cross country athlete is the American Athletic Conference Female Runner of the Week. Last Saturday, Rodriguez Sala helped lead the Tigers women to fourth place at the Brooks Twilight Classic. The finish was the highest for a Memphis women’s team in the event since 2003 (second). Rodriguez Sala was the Tigers’ top finisher at fourth overall in a time of 17:24.88 in the 5K race.
The Gulf South Conference named Christian Brothers University outside hitter as its Freshman of the Week after she led the Lady Bucs to a 4-0 record in the CBU Invitational over the weekend.
Novak Djokovic moved into the U.S. Open semifinals for the 10th consecutive year when No. 9 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga stopped because of a hurt left knee, the defending champion’s third opponent to pull out with an injury.
After the top-seeded Djokovic won the first two sets 6-3, 6-2 on Tuesday night, Tsonga was visited by a trainer and had his left leg taped below the knee. Tsonga double-faulted on the opening point of the third set, then retired.
Djokovic’s secondround opponent, Jiri Vesely, withdrew with a sore left forearm. The man Djokovic was supposed to play in the third round, Mikhail Youzhny, quit after six games because of a strained left hamstring.
Earlier, 10th-seeded Gael Monfils beat errorprone Lucas Pouille 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in an all-French quarterfinal.
Monfils, who turned 30 last week, had lost six consecutive major quarterfinals since reaching his only previous semifinal, 8½ years ago at the French Open. But Monfils has won all 15 sets he’s played during this tournament.
The 24th-seeded Pouille ran out of steam, winding up with just about three times as many unforced errors as Monfils, 44-15.
Monfils repeatedly used lobs to make Pouille run.
“I know he was maybe a bit flat today, so he wanted to close at the net,” Monfils said. “And the lob obviously is the best shot.”
In the day’s first women’s quarterfinal, Roberta Vinci fell apart after losing the opening set on a foot fault, allowing No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber to take the last nine games and win 7-5, 6-0.
Vinci was the runnerup at Flushing Meadows a year ago, reaching her first major final by stunning Serena Williams to end the American’s bid for the first calendar-year Grand Slam in more than a quarter-century.
But after being two points from taking the first set against Kerber while serving for it at 5-4, 30-all, the No. 7-seeded Vinci faltered badly. She missed a forehand long, then netted a backhand to get broken there — and that was just the beginning.
Trailing 6-5, and serving at love-40, Vinci missed her first serve, then was called for a foot fault on a second serve. That resulted in a double-fault, ceding the set.
As she walked to the sideline, Vinci looked at the line judge who made the call, giving him a thumbs-up and applauding with her racket.
“If they called it,” Vinci said later, “I must have done it.”
It’s a rare ruling in Grand Slam tennis, especially at a critical juncture. Vinci took only 10 of 38 points the rest of the way.
In the evening quarterfinal, Caroline Wozniacki reached her fifth U.S. Open semifinal, and first at any Grand Slam tournament in two years, by beating an injured Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-0, 6-2.
“I always believe in myself, no matter what my ranking,” said Wozniacki, who is 74th but used to be No. 1. “I’ve beaten pretty much everyone in the draw before.”
The 48th-ranked Sevastova twisted her right ankle on the opening point of the second game and clearly was hampered. During the changeover after the third game, a trainer taped up the ankle.
Wozniacki, twice the runner-up at Flushing Meadows, will meet No. 2 Kerber in Thursday’s semifinals.