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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Federer ties Sampras with Stockholm win

Roger Federer is tied for fourth in singles victories during Open Era. (Associated Press)

Tennis: Roger Federer beat Germany’s Florian Mayer 6-4, 6-3 to win the Stockholm Open on Sunday and match Pete Sampras’ total of 64 career titles.

Since 1968, only Jimmy Connors (109), Ivan Lendl (94) and John McEnroe (77) have won more singles tournaments than Federer and Sampras.

“It’s amazing that I’m there where Pete’s ended his career on,” Federer said. “You never know when it’s your last one. That’s why you want to savor every tournament victory.”

In beating the 47th-ranked Mayer at Royal Tennis Hall, Federer won his third title of the year. The unseeded German broke serve in the seventh game before Federer started spraying winners to take the set. Federer showed glimpses of his best form in the second set, mixing power and finesse and ending the match in 63 minutes.

Federer, a 16-time Grand Slam winner, won his 50th match of the year Friday. He became only the fifth man, and the first since Sampras, to win 50 matches in at least nine straight years in the Open era.

This was Federer’s first tournament title in Sweden and the 18th country in which he has won.

• Vinci victorious in Luxembourg: Roberta Vinci won the Luxembourg Open, beating eighth-seeded Julia Goerges of Germany 6-3, 6-4.

This was the Italian’s third title on the tour, the others coming at Barcelona in 2009 and Bogota, Colombia, in 2007.

• Troicki, Azarenka take Kremlin Cup: Victor Troicki of Serbia claimed his first title and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won her fifth women’s crown in the Kremlin Cup finals in Moscow.

The 43rd-ranked Troicki rallied to beat fourth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, while Azarenka downed Russian doubles partner Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-4.

Kiprusoff, Bourque keep Flames going

NHL: Miikka Kiprusoff made 27 saves for his second shutout of the season and 36th overall and Rene Bourque scored twice in the Flames’ 4-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks in Calgary, Alberta.

Bourque has six goals this season, five in his last two games. He had three goals and an assist Friday night in Calgary’s 6-2 victory at Columbus.

Jarome Iginla and Craig Conroy also scored for Calgary. The Flames have won four of their last five games to improve to 5-3-0.

• Rangers down Devils: Michal Rozsival and Ryan Callahan scored second-period goals and the Rangers beat Ilya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils 3-1 at New York.

Kovalchuk, in the first season of a 15-year, $100 million deal, returned to New Jersey’s lineup a night after he was benched by coach John MacLean for undisclosed reasons. Kovalchuk didn’t play in the Devils’ 6-1 home loss to Buffalo and wasn’t much of a factor Sunday until he scored with 5:52 remaining to make it 2-1.

Kang edges Inkster at LPGA Malaysia

Golf: Jimin Kang won the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia for her second LPGA Tour title, beating Juli Inkster by a stroke when the 50-year-old Hall of Famer bogeyed the final hole in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Kang, the 30-year-old South Korean player who went to high school in Edmonds, Wash., and starred at Arizona State, birdied the par-4 18th for a 6-under 65 and a 9-under total.

Inkster birdied Nos. 15-17 to take the lead, but couldn’t hold on to finish with a 67.

• Couples wins at The Woodlands: Fred Couples left Corey Pavin and everybody else behind in the Administaff Small Business Classic, shooting a 9-under 63 for a seven-stroke victory at the The Woodlands, Texas. Couples finished at 17-under 199.

Mark Wiebe (71) was second, Dan Forsman (66) and Brad Bryant (66) followed at 9 under, and Pavin (74) and John Cook (67) tied for fifth at 8 under.

Davis, Rookard sweep 1,500M races

Winter sports: Olympic medalist Shani Davis and Jilleanne Rookard won 1,500-meter races at the U.S. Single Distance Long Track Speed Skating Championships West Allis, Wis.

Davis won in 1 minute, 45.59 seconds, while Rookard finished in 2:01.09.

Davis also won the 1,000 meters, the event in which he captured gold medals in the last two Olympics, and was second overall in the 500 and 3,000.

Rookard, from Woodhaven, Mich., also won the 3,000 meters on Sunday as skaters competed for spots on the U.S. World Cup team.

• Fog cancels giant slalom race: The opening giant slalom race of the men’s World Cup season was canceled after the first run when thick fog caused poor visibility on the Rettenbach glacier in Soelden, Austria.

Nunes nabs first career PBR title

Miscellany: Renato Nunes won his first Professional Bull Riders world championship in Las Vegas, clinching the season title in the sixth round of Sunday’s event.

Robson Palermo won the final round with 91.25 points over Mike Lee.

Nunes, who won $1 million, had a total of 13,960 points for the 2010 season.

Austin Meier lost the points lead to Nunes on Saturday, finished in second place with 11,054 points.

Meier failed to qualify for the championship round after being bucked off in the fifth round.

• A’s pitching coach steps down: Oakland Athletics pitching coach Curt Young is leaving the club to pursue other options within the majors.

The A’s said that Young decided not to accept the team’s contract offer for 2011, which would have been his eighth year with the organization that originally drafted him.

Young spent 27 years in the Oakland organization, including 12 years as a player and eight years as a minor league coach. He joined the A’s major league staff in 2004.

Young was part of an A’s rotation that won three straight A.L. pennants from 1988-90.

• Mustafina wins fifth worlds medal: All-around champion Aliya Mustafina won her fifth medal, taking silver on the floor at the world gymnastics championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Australia’s Lauren Mitchell swept past co-leaders Mustafina and Romania’s Diana Chelaru on the last routine, leaving the Russian with two gold and three silver medals in six events.

All-around champion Kohei Uchimura won his fourth medal, finishing behind China’s Feng Zhe and Teng Haibin on the parallel bars. Uchimura also won gold in the all-around, and silver medals in the team event and the floor.