Wagner takes home Skate America title
Figure skating: Ashley Wagner won the women’s title in Skate America on Sunday, teaming with Christina Gao for a 1-2 U.S. finish in Kent, Wash.
Competing in her first Skate America, Wagner, scored 188.37 points. That included 127.76 in the long program, which she performed to music from “Samson and Delilah.” She had 60.61 points in the short program.
The 21-year-old Wagner finished fourth at the world championships in March in France.
Gao moved up to second place with a strong free skate. She wound up with 174.25 points, getting 117.62 on Sunday. Russia’s Adelina Sotnikova was third with 168.96. Sotnikova was second after the short program, but fell during the free skate.
Earlier, Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White won their third straight Skate America dance title. Skating to music from “Notre Dame de Paris,” Davis and White had 176.28 points over two days of competition, including 104.89 on Sunday in the free dance.
They were more than 16 points ahead of Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev, the Russians who finished second at 159.95. Canada’s Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje were third at 157.32. Bobrova and Soloviev were third heading into the free dance, but outscored Weaver and Poje by 6.51 points to move up a spot.
NHL, Union talking but not negotiating
Hockey: While the NHL and the players’ association are keeping the lines of communication open, they don’t seem to be moving any closer to getting back to the bargaining table.
For the second straight day, representatives on both sides of the lockout had telephone conversations. None of those talks have yet led to concrete negotiations that could lead to an elusive collective bargaining agreement and get the delayed hockey season going.
“We had a conference call today to answer some of their questions,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the AP in an email. “No bargaining. And no bargaining meetings scheduled.”
The lockout enters its 37th day today.
“There are multiple frameworks for a deal on the table,” NHLPA special counsel Steve Fehr said. “We gave them three good ones on Thursday. Each moves toward a 50-50 split of (hockey-related revenue) that the league wants. Each allows the contracts in place to be honored.
“Unfortunately, after considering these proposals for about 10 minutes the league rejected them and essentially said that they are not moving off their last proposal.”
Spurrier expects Lattimore return
College Football: South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier expected star running back Marcus Lattimore back in the starting lineup this week against Tennessee.
Lattimore missed several practices last week with a hip bruise and got only three carries for 13 yards in a 44-11 loss to No. 3 Florida Saturday.
Spurrier said it didn’t make sense to send Lattimore back into the game and risk aggrava- ting the injury once the Gators opened an early 21-3 lead.
Wozniacki wins Kremlin Cup title
Tennis: Caroline Wozniacki won her 20th career title, beating Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in the final of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.
Wozniacki has not qualified for the season-ending WTA Championships in Istanbul, but can return to the top 10 in the rankings if she wins the Tournament of the Champions, which starts Oct. 30 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Andreas Seppi rallied to beat Thomaz Bellucci 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 to win the men’s final.
• Venus takes Luxembourg Open: Venus Williams, slowed by injuries and illness, won her first WTA tournament in more than two years, beating Romania’s Monica Niculescu 6-2, 6-3 to take the Luxembourg Open title.
It was Williams’ 44th career singles title.
• Berdych beats Tsonga in Stockholm: Tomas Berdych won his second ATP title this year by rallying to beat top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the Stockholm Open final.
The sixth-ranked Czech saved seven of nine break points.
Knee injury sidelines Knicks’ Stoudemire
NBA: Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire is expected to miss the start of the regular season and be out two to three weeks because of an injured left knee.
He returned to New York for another evaluation, and an MRI revealed a ruptured benign cyst, the team said.
Celski sets mark at Calgary World Cup
Speed skating: American J.R. Celski become the first short-track speedskater to break the 40-second barrier in the 500 meters, setting a world record of 39.973 second in a World Cup final in Calgary, Alberta.
South Korea’s Kwak Yoon-gy and Shim Suk-hee set world records in the 1,000 semifinals. Kwak broke the men’s record with a time of 1:23.007, and Shim set the women’s mark in 1:26.661.
In the 1,000 finals, Russia’s Victor An won the men’s race in 1:24.519, and Shim won in 1:29.247.
China’s Wang Meng won the women’s 500 final in 43.240.