TENNIS
Marin Cilic sealed Croatia’s victory over defending champion France in the Davis Cup final Sunday with a 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-3 victory against Lucas Pouille at Lille, France.
Cilic, a former U.S. Open champion, gave Croatia a 3-1 unassailable lead in the best-of-five series on indoor clay with a ruthless display.
Cilic lived up to his status of team leader this weekend, winning his two matches without dropping a set. He was surrounded by the Croatian team on the court and covered his shoulders with the Croatian flag after the country’s president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, warmly hugged him.
AUTO RACING
FORMULA ONE: World champion Lewis Hamilton coasted to victory from the pole position at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in the United Arab Emirates.
Having already secured a fifth title, the British Mercedes driver beat Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari at the Yas Marina circuit to secure his 11th win of the season and 73rd of his career.
• Sebastian Vettel acknowledged he must improve his driving next year after a second straight season where his title challenge crumbled under relentless pressure from Lewis Hamilton.
FOOTBALL
GREY CUP: Terry Williams had a Grey Cup-record 97-yard punt return for a touchdown and the Calgary Stampeeders beat the Ottawa Redblacks 27-16 at Edmonton, Alberta, after falling short the previous two years in the Canadian Football League title game.
Calgary lost 39-33 in overtime to Ottawa in 2016 and 27-24 to Toronto last year.
GOLF
WORLD CUP: Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry of Belgium had a few anxious moments on the back nine but held on to shoot a 4-under 68 and claim a three-stroke win despite a late run by Australia and Mexico at Melbourne, Australia.
Matt Kuchar and Kyle Stanley of the U.S. shot a final-round 68 and finished at 9 under, 14 strokes out and tied for 16th among the 28 teams.
EUROPEAN: Aaron Rai won the Hong Kong Open by one shot in difficult conditions that featured torrential rain for most of the afternoon to give him his first tour win.
SOCCER
COPA LIBERTADORES: The final between fierce Argentine rivals Boca Juniors and River Plate was postponed in a major embarrassment for South American football, and a decision on a date and possible site change may be made following a meeting Tuesday.
The game – the continent’s equivalent of the Champions League final in Europe – already had been put back from Saturday to Sunday after Boca’s bus was attacked by River fans.
MLS: Josef Martinez, Franco Escobar and Hector Villalba scored, and Atlanta United blew out the visiting New York Red Bulls 3-0 in the opening leg of the Eastern Conference final.
• Tim Melia made six saves and visiting Sporting Kansas City survived Portland’s aggressive attack for a 0-0 draw n the opening leg of the Western Conference finals.
SKIING
WORLD CUP: Mikaela Shiffrin powered through the fog at Killington, Vermont, to win her third straight slalom race.
Shiffrin, a 23-year-old from Colorado, overcame tiny mistakes on the final run and made up ground near the finish. Shiffrin finished in a combined time of 1 minute, 43.25 seconds to edge Petra Vlhova of Slovakia by 0.57 seconds. Frida Hansdotter of Sweden finished third.
– Staff and news services
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