TENNIS

Djokovic wins Serbia Open for fifth title this season

Novak Djokovic defeated Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (4), 6-2 on Sunday to win the Serbia Open in Belgrade, Serbia, for his fifth title and 27th straight victory this season.

The Australian Open champion was not always at his best in a match often played in rain and had six double faults, but Lopez failed to take advantage of seven break points.

BMW OPEN: Nikolay Davydenko won his second BMW Open title, beating Florian Mayer 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in Munich.

ESTORIL OPEN: Juan Martin del Potro beat Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-2 in the final in Oeiras, Portugal, winning his first clay-court event of the year.

MADRID OPEN: Caroline Wozniacki easily advanced to the second round in Madrid, beating Ayumi Morita 6-2, 6-3, while Maria Sharapova had to rally to beat Arantxa Rus 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

FOOTBALL

NFL: The NFL lockout is back in force after a short hiatus last week. A St. Louis appeals court could determine as early as today whether the league deserves a permanent stay of an injunction granted to the players in Minnesota to block the lockout.

SOCCER

PREMIER LEAGUE: Arsenal threw open the English title race with a 1-0 win over Manchester United that left the league leader vulnerable to a late charge by defending champion Chelsea.

Aaron Ramsey scored in the 56th minute at Emirates Stadium to cap a dominant display by Arsenal and cut United’s lead over the Blues to three points with three games remaining. With third-place Arsenal still six points off the lead, the Gunners’ victory may have come too late to re-ignite their title hopes.

SERIE A: AC Milan moved within one point of winning the league title with a 1-0 win over Bologna.

SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Celtic maintained its challenge for the league title with a 4-1 win over Dundee United that kept it a point behind defending champion Rangers.

HORSE RACING

KENTUCKY DERBY: Uncle Mo worked five furlongs at muddy Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., and owner Mike Repole says his star colt should be the favorite in the Run for the Roses on Saturday.

Uncle Mo covered the distance with stablemate Stay Thirsty in 1:01.60.

Trainer Todd Pletcher called the workout “textbook” and said the horse is recovering well from a gastrointestinal infection that resulted in a third-place finish in the Wood Memorial on April 9.

AUTO RACING

INDYCAR SERIES: The Sao Paulo 300 in Brazil was postponed until today because of heavy rain.

IndyCar officials made the call after Sunday’s race was stopped for more than two hours and track conditions failed to improve.

BEECH RIDGE: Johnny Clark of Hallowell reclaimed the lead on Lap 120 of Saturday’s Pro All Stars Series North season opener and survived several late race cautions to nab the 150-lap feature over a charging Donnie Whitten.

Ben Rowe, Lonnie Sommerville and Shawn Turple rounded out the top five.

In the PASS Modified race, Andy Shaw earned a dominant win from the pole, leading all 40 laps. Alan Wilson, Travis Buzzell, Dana Reed and Scott McDaniel placed second through fifth.

HOCKEY

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Olympic champion Canada got two goals from Jeff Skinner to rout France 9-1 and advance to the second round in Kosice, Slovakia.

CYCLING

TOUR DE ROMANDIE: Cadel Evans of Australia won his second Tour de Romandie title in Geneva, finishing safely in the pack during a final stage won by Britain’s Ben Swift.

Evans retained his 18-second lead in the overall standings on runner-up Tony Martin of Germany after the 102.3-mile ride from Champagne to Geneva.

Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan was third.

— From staff and news services

 

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