Federer leads Swiss to final of Davis Cup

Tennis: Roger Federer has taken Switzerland to its first Davis Cup final in 22 years, beating Fabio Fognini of Italy in the opening reverse singles Sunday in Geneva for a winning 3-1 lead in their semifinal.

Federer celebrated with skipping jumps across the court on completing a 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (4) win against the 17th-ranked Fognini.

“It’s fabulous to share in this moment,” Federer said in an on-court interview after being hoisted on the shoulders of teammate Stan Wawrinka and captain Severin Luethi for a lap of honor round the court.

Switzerland will play at France in the final on Nov. 21-23.

Switzerland has never won the 114-year-old competition, and lost its only final in 1992 against a United States team of Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras.

• France wraps up 4-1 win: Gael Monfils wrapped up a 4-1 victory for France in its Davis Cup semifinal against Czech Republic in Paris with a 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 defeat of Lukas Rosol.

In the first reverse singles, Jiri Vesely salvaged some pride for the Czech Republic as he beat Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-3 in a consolation win.

• U.S. sweeps Slovakia: John Isner and Sam Querrey won their singles matches as the U.S. completed a 5-0 sweep of Slovakia in the Davis Cup World Group playoff in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

Isner won the final nine games and beat Lukas Lacko 6-3, 6-0. Querrey then defeated Norbert Gombos 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Entering play Sunday, the U.S. had already won the first three matches and clinched a spot in the 2015 World Group.

SEC has seven teams in AP poll’s top 15

Miscellany: South Carolina’s win over Georgia vaulted the Gamecocks 10 spots to No. 14 in the Associated Press college football poll, giving the Southeastern Conference an unprecedented seven teams in the top 15.

The SEC had eight teams ranked for the third straight week and five teams in the top 10 for two weeks running. Alabama is third behind No. 1 Florida State and No. 2. Oregon, followed by No. 5 Auburn, No. 6, Texas A&M, No. 8, LSU and No. 10 Mississippi.

Georgia fell to No. 13 after losing to the Gamecocks 38-35 and Missouri was No. 18.

Florida State, which was off, has 37 first-place votes, losing one to the Ducks, who have 17.

Oklahoma held its position at No. 4 after beating Tennessee, Baylor moved up one to No. 7 with a rout over Buffalo and No. 9 Notre Dame was back in the top 10 for the first time since 2012 after moving up two spots.

• Contador wins third Spanish Vuelta: Alberto Contador won cycling’s Spanish Vuelta for a third time after protecting his lead on the 21st and final stage, giving the Spaniard his sixth grand tour title.

Contador entered the concluding 6-mile individual time trial with a healthy lead of 1 minute, 37 seconds over fellow former Tour de France winner Chris Froome, who finished second. Alejandro Valverde completed the podium.

Adriano Malori of Italy won the stage.