Serena erases doubts, routs Halep at WTA
Tennis: The lead-up to Sunday’s championship match at the WTA Finals suggested Serena Williams would face a major challenge to beat Simona Halep, but then, the No. 1- ranked player has made a career out of performing at her best when it matters most.
She did it again in Singapore, dispatching Halep 6-3, 6-0 just four days after a group-stage game between the pair in which the Romanian player dropped only two games and handed Williams her heaviest defeat for 16 years.
Coming into the tournament after having to withdraw from the China Open and Wuhan Open with illness and a knee injury, and just a day after a grueling three-set classic against Caroline Wozniacki, there were plenty of reasons to believe the 33-year-old could be vulnerable.
The doubts, though, were quickly swept aside as Williams overpowered her opponent in an imperious performance.
She won 11 of the last 12 games in the match to join Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf as the only players to have won five titles in the season-ending championships.
“I just started training, because I had such a bad knee in Beijing I didn’t know if I’d be able to play here, and now I have won the Billie-Jean King trophy – I am so excited,” Williams said.
• Federer wins hometown tourney: Top-seeded Roger Federer won a sixth Swiss Indoors title, comfortably defeating David Goffin of Belgium in straight sets at his hometown tournament in Basel, Switzerland. Federer took just 52 minutes to win 6-2, 6-2.
• Murray survives in Valencia: Andy Murray saved five match points before fighting back to beat Tommy Robredo 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (8) in a grueling Valencia Open final in Valencia, Spain. In September, Murray also saved five match points against the Spaniard on his way to winning the final in Shenzhen, China.
Kings finish sweep of six-game homestand
NHL: Jeff Carter scored during a two-man advantage in Los Angeles’ three-goal second period, and the Kings completed a sweep of a six-game homestand with a 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Columbus left wing Nick Foligno was seriously injured with 11:34 left. He was taken off on a stretcher while wearing a neck brace. Carter checked him along the boards in front of the Kings bench, and Foligno’s head rammed into the elbow of linesman Shane Heyer, who had jumped on top of the boards in an attempt to avoid both players.
• Canucks double up Capitals: Nick Bonino and Radim Vrbata both had a goal and an assist, and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Washington Capitals 4-2.
Henrik Sedin and Luca Sbisa also scored for Vancouver, and Chris Higgins had two assists. Ryan Miller made 20 saves to earn his fifth win of the season.
Marcus Johansson and Liam O’Brien had goals, and Mike Green added two assists for Washington.
• Sharks stop Ducks’ win streak: Joe Pavelski and Tommy Wingels scored power-play goals, and the San Jose Sharks emphatically snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory over the host Anaheim Ducks.
Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic also scored for the Sharks, who ended Anaheim’s seven-game winning streak.
Matt Beleskey scored for the Western Conference-leading Ducks, who hadn’t lost since opening night on Oct. 9.
Russian wins women’s title at Skate America
Miscellany: Two-time world junior champion Elena Radionova of Russia won the Skate America women’s competition in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
The 15-year-old Radionova, who was too young to compete at the Sochi Olympics in February, overtook countrywoman Elizaveta Tuktamysheva in the free skate to capture the gold medal with 195.47 points.
Tuktamysheva (189.62), the leader after the short program, finished second, and American Gracie Gold was third with 179.38 points.
Yuka Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov of Russia won the pairs competition in convincing fashion earlier in the day.
• Hirscher wins World Cup opener: Overall champion Marcel Hirscher held on to his first-run lead to win the season-opening World Cup giant slalom by a huge margin in Soelden, Austria.
The Austrian finished in an aggregate 2 minutes, 28.09 seconds to beat Fritz Dopfer of Germany by 1.58 seconds. Alexis Pinturault of France was third.
• South Africa goalkeeper killed: Soccer club Orlando Pirates says South Africa goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa has died, with local media reporting he was killed in a shooting.
The club did not disclose further details. The South African Press Association cited a national soccer association spokesman and police as saying Meyiwa had been shot dead.