TENNIS

Nishikori captures third straight title at Memphis

Kei Nishikori of Japan beat South African Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-4 in the Memphis Open championship, becoming the first man to win three straight titles at the tournament.

Nishikori improved to 13-1 at the indoor event where Jimmy Connors failed not once but twice to win three straight titles.

Ranked No. 5, Nishikori won his eighth career ATP title and first since Tokyo last year.

WORLD TENNIS TOURNAMENT: Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland beat defending champion Tomas Berdych for the sixth straight time, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at Rotterdam, Netherlands for his ninth career title. The fourth-seeded Wawrinka secured crucial breaks of serve at the end of the second set and the start of the third.

BRAZIL OPEN: Pablo Cuevas won his third ATP title by defeating qualifier Luca Vanni 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (4) in the final of the clay-court event at Sao Paulo.

DIAMOND GAMES: Third-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany won without hitting a ball when fifth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain pulled out of the final at Antwerp, Belgium with a neck injury.

DUBAI TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS: Alize Cornet raced through the first set in 20 minutes, then needed nearly 3 hours for the next two before outlasting Kirsten Flipkens 6-0, 6-7 (6), 6-3 in the first round.

BASEBALL

OBITUARY: Former Boston Red Sox third base coach Wendell Kim died Sunday at age 64, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. No cause of death was given. Kim was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s several years ago.

Known for his aggressive tendencies in waving runners home, Kim coached for the Red Sox from 1997-2000 following eight seasons as a coach with the Giants. He later coached with the Expos and Cubs. Kim retired in 2005.

SKIING

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Skiing into heavy snowfall, Jean-Baptiste Grange of France won the slalom title at Beaver Creek, Colorado after first-run leader Marcel Hirscher of Austria straddled a gate in the deteriorating conditions.

Trailing by 0.88 seconds heading into the final run, Grange had no trouble with the low visibility as he finished in a combined time of 1 minute, 57.47 seconds. Fritz Dopfer of Germany was second, 0.35 seconds behind.

Even with Hirscher going out, the Austrians easily won the medal race with nine, four more than the Americans.

SKI JUMP WORLD CUP: Severin Freund of Germany won a ski flying event with jumps of 237.5 and 245 meters, while Anders Fannemel of Norway set a world record by soaring 251.5 meters in the first round at Vikersund, Norway.

SPEEDSKATING

SINGLE DISTANCE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Brittany Bowe won her second title at Heerenveen, Netherlands, taking gold in the 1,500 meters to add to her 1,000 victory.

Defending champion Ireen Wust of the Netherlands was second and Bowe’s American teammate Heather Richardson, the 500-meter champion, finished third.

SOCCER

SPANISH LEAGUE: Lionel Messi had another hat trick as host Barcelona increased its winning streak to 11 games with a 5-0 victory over Levante.

FA CUP: Third-tier Bradford produced another upset against Premier League opposition by beating Sunderland 2-0 to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in 39 years.

Defending champion Arsenal ousted Middlesbrough by the same score on two goals by Olivier Giroud.

– From staff and news services

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