TENNIS
Querrey saves U.S. from embarrassing Davis Cup loss
Sam Querrey beat Thiago Alves 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3) on Sunday at Jacksonville, Fla., to give the heavily favored United States team a dramatic 3-2 victory over Brazil and a spot in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.
The U.S. will host Serbia in the next round in Boise, Idaho, from April 5-7.
Querrey stepped up against Alves, ranked 141st, after John Isner lost 2-6, 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-3 to Thomaz Bellucci earlier Sunday, forcing a deciding fifth match. It was the first time since 2000 that a U.S. team won the fifth match to advance.
Elsewhere:
• Canada upset a short-handed Spanish team at Vancouver, British Columbia, to reach the quarterfinals for the first time.
Fifteenth-ranked Milos Raonic defeated No. 82 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in the opening reverse singles match to give Canada an insurmountable 3-1 lead.
Five-time champion Spain was missing Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro because of injuries and fatigue.
• Fabio Fognini beat Ivan Dodig in four sets to give Italy a 3-2 win over Croatia and send his country to the quarterfinals for the first time in 15 years.
• Back on the court after both played in a record-breaking doubles match Saturday that lasted 7 hours, 1 minute, Tomas Berdych beat Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5) to lift the defending champion Czech Republic to a 3-2 victory over Switzerland at Geneva.
FED CUP: Sloane Stephens is pulling out of the U.S. team’s first-round match against Italy because of a strained abdominal muscle.
Melanie Oudin replaces Stephens on the U.S. roster for the Feb. 9-10 matches on indoor red clay at Rimini, Italy. Oudin joins Fed Cup rookies Varvara Lepchenko and Jamie Hampton, plus doubles specialist Liezel Huber.
PATTAYA OPEN: Second-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia rallied from a set down to beat Germany’s Sabine Lisicki in the final at Pattaya, Thailand, 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (1).
OPEN GDF SUEZ: Unseeded Mona Barthel of Germany earned her second career title, upsetting top-seeded Sara Errani of Italy 7-5, 7-6 (4) at Paris.
BOXING
GOLDEN GLOVES: Portland Boxing Club fighters won all five of their bouts at the Northern New England Golden Gloves finals in Burlington, Vt.
Danny Pang, a novice featherweight, stopped Andrew Piper of Burlington, Vt., at 1:23 of the second round, and Chi Won, a novice lightweight, won a 3-2 decision over John Ward of Concord, N.H.
In a women’s novice welterweight match, Lindsay Kyajohnian earned a 5-0 decision over Mariah Yates Murphy of St. Albans, Vt.
John Lopez and Jason Quirk won titles in the open class. Lopez took a 4-1 decision over Josh Bickford of Mt. Holly, Vt.; and Quirk stopped Niko Clow of Claremont, N.H., at 1:21 of the third round. Quirk was chosen as outstanding boxer in the open class.
Liz Leddy, an open class lightweight, also advanced to the New England Championship by walkover. Novice class fights will be Feb. 12 and 15 at Lowell, Mass., and the open class is Feb. 19 and 20.
SOCCER
PREMIER LEAGUE: Liverpool did Manchester United a big favor, holding Manchester City to a 2-2 draw that left the defending champions nine points behind their neighbors in the title race.
• Tottenham beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 thanks to a superb goal from Gareth Bale, and is now just a point behind third-place Chelsea.
LA LIGA: Lionel Messi extended his record streak by scoring in his 12th consecutive Spanish league game to give first-place Barcelona a 1-1 draw at Valencia.
BOBSLEDDING
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Defending champion Steven Holcomb’s four-man sled finished third behind teams from Germany and Russia at St. Moritz, Switzerland.
– From staff and news services
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