Federer wins Cincinnati Masters title
Tennis: Roger Federer ended his mini-vacation with another Masters title.
A well-rested Federer beat American Mardy Fish 6-7 (5), 7-6 (1), 6-4, winning his second straight Cincinnati Masters championship in Mason, Ohio, and fourth overall. He was barely on the court all week because his opponents got hurt and his game was so good.
The Swiss star ended a streak of three straight losses in tournament finals, winning his first Masters event since Cincinnati last year. His 63rd career title tied Bjorn Borg for fifth place in the Open Era. Pete Sampras is fourth at 64, and Jimmy Connors holds the record with 109.
Bob and Mike Bryan won their 64th career doubles title, beating Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi 6-3, 6-4 to close the $2.4 million Western & Southern Financial Group Masters.
• Rogers Cup rained out: The rain-soaked Rogers Cup has again postponed its singles finals, although the doubles players moved indoors to get their semifinal matches played in Montreal.
Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia started their match after a four-hour delay on Saturday. Wozniacki led 2-0, 0-15 before rains came again and wiped out play for the day.
Durant paces U.S. over resilient Spain
USA Basketball: Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim called for a switch to his trademark “Orange” 2-3 zone with the United States clinging to a one-point lead in Madrid.
Kevin Durant did the rest, blocking shots by Ricky Rubio and Rudy Fernandez in the final seconds in the Americans’ 86-85 victory over Spain in a warmup game for the world championships.
The decision to go to the zone defense for the last play caught Spain off-guard after Derrick Rose put the Americans ahead with two free throws.
Hawaii, Texas prevail at LLWS tourney
Little League: Shiloh Baniaga hit a homer in the top of the first, then struck out six and allowed three hits over five innings to lead Waipahu, Hawaii, to a 3-1 win over Toms River, N.J., in one of the best games yet at this year’s tournament in South Williamsport, Pa.
Earlier, Mexico staved off elimination by torching Germany’s pitching for 13 hits, including two homers and four RBIs for Enrique Penaloza in a 11-2 victory.
Luis Bazan knocked in three runs and Irving Indunis had three doubles and two RBIs to help Panama beat Saudi Arabia 13-0 and stay in contention in a game that ended after the top of the fourth because of Little League’s 10-run rule.
Ryusuke Ikeda pitched 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief and Japan took advantage of some defensive lapses to score all of its runs in the first two innings and remain undefeated with a 7-2 win over Puerto Rico.
Pearland’s powerful offense ran aggressively on the basepaths and took advantage of Connecticut miscues to go to 2-0 following a 14-1 victory.
Lynx beat Fever, miss out on playoffs
WNBA: Seimone Augustus scored 25 points to help the Minnesota Lynx beat the Indiana Fever 83-79 in overtime in Indianapolis.
Charde Houston and Lindsay Whalen added 16 points each for the Lynx, who barely missed the playoffs after tying for fourth place in the West.
Briann January (Lewis and Clark) added 12 points and seven assists off the bench for the Fever.
Kenya’s Rudisha breaks 800 record
Miscellany: David Rudisha of Kenya broke the men’s 800-meter world record with a time of 1 minute, 41.09 seconds at the Olympic stadium in Berlin.
Rudisha beat the previous record of 1:41.11 by Denmark’s Wilson Kipketer in Cologne, Germany, on Aug. 24, 1997.
• Semenya wins 800: Caster Semenya cruised to victory in the 800-meter race at the same Olympic Stadium in Berlin where she won the world title one year ago before missing 11 months of competition while undergoing gender tests.
The South African teenager surged ahead in the last 50 meters and crossed the line in 1 minute, 59.90 seconds.
• Goss edges Farrar: Matt Goss beat Tyler Farrar (Wenatchee) in a mass sprint to win the Grand Prix Ouest-France in Plouay, France.
Goss became the second Australian rider to win the 154.3-mile Brittany classic, along with Simon Gerrans.