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A18 SPORTS
Monday 20 March 2017

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At 35 years and seven though she has won three in sweeping the final four
months, Federer became doubles titles at the tourna- games of the match.
the oldest champion in the ment. She beat No. 2 seed Kuznetsova served one of
desert tournament’s his- Angelique Kerber and No. her nine aces to lead 4-1
tory, surpassing Connors, 12 Venus Williams on her in the second, prompting
who was 31 years and five way to the biggest final of Vesnina to bring out her
months when he won in her career at age 30. coach-father Sergey Vesn-
1981.
His twin daughters cheered
and jumped up and down
in a box above the court
when Federer put away a
high forehand volley while
keeping Wawrinka pinned
deep behind the baseline Elisha Barno, of Kenya, crosses the finish line as he wins the
on match point. men’s Los Angeles Marathon, Sunday, March 19, 2017, in Santa
Federer dropped serve just Monica, Calif.
once in five matches, los- Associated Press
ing the first game of the
second set against No. 3
seed Wawrinka. He saved Elena Vesnina, of Russia, celebrates her win against Svetlana Kenyans Barno, Jepkurgat
one break point against Kuznetsova, of Russia, in the women’s final at the BNP Paribas win titles at L.A. Marathon
Rafael Nadal in the fourth Open tennis tournament, Sunday, March 19, 2017, in Indian
round, and never lost set Wells, Calif.
in the tournament. No. 9 Associated Press SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) Monica Pier in 2 hours, 11
seed Federer advanced Kuznetsova is 0-3 in finals in for a chat. — Kenyans Elisha Barno minutes, 53 seconds.
to the semifinals via walk- here, also finishing runner- It worked. and Hellen Jepkurgat have Limo finished third last year
over when Nick Kyrgios up in 2007 and 2008. Vesnina reeled off four won the men’s and wom- in the 26.2-mile race that
withdrew.In an all-Russian At age 31, Kuznetsova was straight games to lead 5-4. en’s titles at the Los Ange- begins at Dodger Stadium
women’s final, Elena Vesn- the fifth-oldest women to Her forehand error led to les Marathon. and finishes at the Pacific
ina defeated Svetlana reach the final. But the Kuznetsova’s break in the Barno pulled away from Ocean.Jepkurgat won the
Kuznetsova 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-4. two-time major champion 10th game that tied it 5-all. 2015 winner Daniel Limo women’s race in 2:34.23,
Federer will move up four struggled playing with the But Vesnina broke back of Kenya in the final mile nearly 2 minutes ahead of
spots to No. 6 in the ATP lead as the No. 8 seed and served out the set 7-5. of Sunday’s race, crossing fellow Kenyan Jane Kibii,
world rankings on Monday. in front of hundreds of “She had so many break the finish line at the Santa who finished in 2:36.14. q
He hit 23 winners, including empty seats.“I didn’t feel points on my serve,” Vesn-
16 off his backhand in the good today because she ina said. “She was 30-love Ethiopian Feyisa Lilesa, American
80-minute match. Wawrin- was very aggressive and up couple of times on her
ka had 17 winners and 21 I was a little bit out of my serves, and I always keep Molly Huddle win NYC Half
unforced errors in front of game,” Kuznetsova said. “I coming back.”Kuznetsova
the announced crowd of couldn’t figure out a lot the had luck on her side early,
17,382 that didn’t fill the wind and stuff like that. But winning the first set on a NEW YORK (AP) — Feyisa Huddle finished in 1:08:19
stadium. still, I give a lot of credit to net cord in the tiebreaker. Lilesa of Ethiopia ran the over the course from Cen-
Vesnina had never ad- her because she was ag- She gave the traditional fastest time in five years in tral Park to Lower Manhat-
vanced beyond the third gressive.” wave acknowledging her winning the NYC Half, and tan. Emily Sisson, Huddle’s
round in singles and just Kuznetsova led 4-2 in the good fortune to Vesnina, Molly Huddle of the United training partner, was sec-
last year she lost in the third before 14th-seeded who had blown leads of States won her third straight ond (1:08:21) and Burun-
first round of qualifying, al- Vesnina broke her twice 2-0 and 4-2.q women’s title in the 13.1- di’s Diane Nukuri was third
mile race (1:09:13).Huddle’s time was
Lilesa, the silver medal- the third-fastest in the 12-
ist in the marathon at the year history of the event,
2016 Olympics, was timed which drew 20,000 runners.
in 1 hour, 4 seconds Sun- South Africa’s Ernst van
day and finished ahead Dyk, a two-time New York
of Britain’s Callum Hawkins City Marathon champion in
(1:00:08) and fellow Ethio- the wheelchair event, won
pian Teshome Mekonen the men’s race in 47:28.
(1:00:28). Lilesa outsprinted U.S. Paralympian Susannah
both in the final stretch for Scaroni won the women’s
budgetaruba@setarnet.aw his first win in 2017. race in 55:06.q