In brief: Hopkins continues to stun with upset win

Bernard Hopkins outfoxed age and Winky Wright the same way: First with his head, then with his heart.

The 42-year-old Hopkins earned another stunning victory in the twilight of his career Saturday night, ending Wright’s 7 1/2-year unbeaten streak with a unanimous decision in their 170-pound fight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Judges Glenn Trowbridge and Dave Moretti scored it 117-111 for Hopkins, and Glenn Hamada scored it 116-112. The Associated Press gave it to Hopkins, 115-113.

The punch statistics were nearly as even as the fight. Hopkins landed 152 of his 640 punches, and Wright landed 167 of his 618 blows.

Jorge Linares won the WBC interim featherweight title with a 10th-round TKO of Oscar Larios on the undercard.

Australia’s Michael Katsidis kept his WBO interim lightweight title with a decision over Czar Amonsot.

“Gavin Rees won the WBA light-welterweight title from Souleymane M’Baye by unanimous decision before fellow Welshman Enzo Maccarinelli retained his WBO cruiserweight belt in Cardiff, Wales.

Tennis

Nadal advances

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal beat Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 7-5 to reach the final of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, Germany.

Nadal will face Stanislas Wawrinka, who upset seventh-seed Juan Ignacio Chela, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-1.

Lopez almost took the second set off Nadal, which would have been the first the French Open champion lost in the tournament.

“James Blake advanced to the final of the ATP Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles, struggling to get past South Korea’s Hyung-Taik Lee in three sets.

Blake will face unseeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.

“Austria’s Werner Eschauer and Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis advanced to the final of the Dutch Open in Amersfoort, Netherlands, the first time either will play for a championship.

“Eighth-seeded Agnes Szavay reached her first career final by beating Sara Errani of Italy 7-6 (0), 6-1 in the semifinals of the clay-court Palermo Open in Palermom, Sicily.

The 18-year-old Szavay will face second-seeded Martina Mueller today.

“Akiko Morigami, the seventh seed from Japan outlasted qualifier Akgul Amanmuradova from Uzbekistan in the first semifinal of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open in Mason, Ohio, to earn a 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-3 win.

Morigami will play top-seeded Anna Chakvetadze of Russia in today’s final. Chakvetadze advanced with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 win over third-seeded Sania Mirza of India.

Miscellany

Iraq ousts Vietnam

In Bangkok, Thailand, Younis Mahmoud scored twice and Iraq reached the semifinals of the Asian Cup for the first time since 1976 with a 2-0 win over Vietnam that extended the conflict-torn nation’s impressive run in the tournament.

Celebratory gunfire that rang out over Baghdad after the victory killed two people and wounded 15.

Iraq took the lead in the second minute.

A long freekick by Nashat Akram into the penalty area found Mahmoud unmarked and he glanced a header into the net.

“Olympic snowboard gold medalist Shaun White won the skateboard vert competition at the Dew Action Sports Tour’s Right Guard Open in Cleveland, despite falling on his first two runs.

White drew cheers from the capacity crowd with his flawless final run, which earned him a score of 90.25.

Defending Dew Cup champion Bucky Lasek of Baltimore finished second with 89.00 points and Brazilian Bob Burnquist took third with a score of 87.00.

“Alan Webb set the American record in the mile, running 3 minutes, 46.91 seconds at a sparsely attended meet in Brasschaat, Belgium.

Webb’s time, the fastest in the world this year, bested the 3:47.69 run by Steve Scott in Oslo, Norway, in 1982.