GOLF

Chappell’s late birdies net lead at Texas Open

Kevin Chappell birdied three of his final five holes and took a step closer to his first PGA Tour victory with a 1-under 71 on Saturday, giving him a one-stroke lead after three rounds of the Valero Texas Open at San Antonio.

Chappell is 8-under through 54 holes. He’s ahead of first-round leader Branden Grace, who rallied with 2-under 70, and John Huh (71).

EUROPEAN TOUR: Bernd Wiesberger of Austria shot a 3-under 69 to take a three-stroke lead into the final round of the Shenzhen International in China.

CHAMPIONS TOUR: Fred Funk and Jeff Sluman teamed to shoot a course-record 10-under par and take the opening-round lead in the Champions’ Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Ridgedale, Missouri.

TENNIS

MONTE CARLO MASTERS: Defending champion Rafael Nadal beat David Goffin 6-3, 6-1 to move within one win of a 10th Monte Carlo Masters title and his first title of the season.

FED CUP: CoCo Vandeweghe beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-1, 6-4 to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead over defending champion Czech Republic in the semifinals at Wesley Chapel, Florida.

n Romania captain Ilie Nastase was thrown out of the venue hosting Saturday’s World Group II playoff against Britain after abusive comments toward players and the umpire led to play being briefly suspended.

The 70-year-old former top-ranked men’s player also publicly hurled insults at a British journalist in Constanta, a day after apparently making racially offensive comments about Serena Williams’ recently announced pregnancy.

SOCCER

FA CUP: Eden Hazard came off the bench to help Chelsea reach the final with a 4-2 victory over Tottenham as the English Premier League leaders overwhelmed their title rivals.

PREMIER LEAGUE: Zlatan Ibrahimovic may have played his last game for Manchester United.

The club said Ibrahimovic sustained “significant knee ligament damage” Thursday in the Europa League quarterfinal victory over Anderlecht.

ENGLISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE: Leyton Orient’s 112-year stay in the league is over. The Italian-owned London club’s relegation from the fourth and lowest professional division became official with a 3-0 loss to Crewe. If Orient stays in business, it will play in the fifth-tier semi-professional National League next season.

MLS: The New England Revolution took advantage of an own goal early in the second half to earn a 2-2 draw with D.C. United at Foxborough, Massachusetts.

AUTO RACING

INDYCAR: Will Power claimed the pole for the fourth time at the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama in a qualifying session dominated by Team Penske at Birmingham, Alabama. Power’s fast lap of 1:06.9614 gave him 46 career starts up front.

XFINITY: Erik Jones has back-to-back Xfinity Series victories after a win at Bristol Motor Speedway. Jones also won at Texas Motor Speedway on April 8.

Ryan Blaney finished second – the same result he’s had in all three Xfinity Series races he’s entered.

CYCLING

GIRO CHAMP KILLED: Michele Scarponi, who won the Giro d’Italia in 2011, died after being hit by a van while training. He was 37.

Scarponi was training near his home of Filottrano, Italy, when he was hit by a van at a crossroad.

He leaves behind a wife and twin sons.

– News service report

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