Off the wire

GOLF

Day leads by 2

Jason Day sputtered at the start and hit his stride on the back nine for a 4-under 67 to build a two-shot lead going into the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship at Charlotte, N.C., and a chance for his second victory this year. Peter Uihlein, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy all showed early Saturday that it was a softer, gentler Quail Hollow under an overcast sky. Uihlein had a 62, one off the course record. Mickelson had a 64, his lowest score this season. Day did his part with five birdies on his last 10 holes and a daring shot on the 18th when he stood barefoot in the creek to play a shot onto the green. He was at 10-under 203. Nick Watney had a 66 and was two behind.

Park, Shin share lead

Sung Hyun Park and Jenny Shin finished the rain-delayed first round of the abbreviated LPGA Texas Classic on Saturday with 6-under 65s to share a one-stroke lead. After Thursday's play was canceled and Friday's began after an 8 ½-hour rain delay, the tournament was reduced from 72 holes to 36. There will be no cut, but only the top 70 and ties in the 144-woman field will win prize money. The second round began Saturday afternoon at The Colony, Texas, before the first round ended. Park and Shin are scheduled to start their final rounds this afternoon. Moriya Jutanugarn, who won at Los Angeles two weeks ago, shot a first-round 66, sandwiching eight birdies between an opening double bogey and a closing bogey.

Langer out front

Bernhard Langer plodded his way to an even-par 72 on Saturday, good enough to maintain the lead at the Insperity Invitational as the leaderboard bunched up behind him. Langer was at 9-under 135 and had a one-shot lead over three players after he followed up his course-record-tying opening-round 63 by making just two birdies and two bogeys at The Woodlands Country Club near Houston. Tom Pernice Jr. (68), Miguel Angel Jimenez (69), Mark Calcavecchia (69) and Scott Dunlap (70) were one stroke behind. Bart Bryant (67) and local favorite Jeff Maggert (71) trailed by two. Kenny Perry birdied four of the final five holes for a 65, the low round of the day, and was one of eight players sitting three shots back.

TENNIS

Kvitova wins Prague

Second-seeded Petra Kvitova came from a set down to beat seventh-seeded Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the Prague Open final on Saturday. It was the 23rd career WTA title for the two-time Wimbledon champion. Kvitova broke Buzarnescu in the fourth game of the deciding set and held her serve for a 4-1 lead. The 10th-ranked Czech converted her first match point on clay on the way to her third title this year after wins at St. Petersburg and Qatar. Buzarnescu, who played her second final this year, has yet to win a tournament. Struggling with her serve, Kvitova lost her first set in the tournament after serving five double-faults.

Venus loses in Madrid

Venus Williams lost to Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in the first round of the Madrid Open on Saturday. Kontaveit rallied from a set down to beat the eighth-seeded Williams 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 on the outdoor clay court. Kontaveit was coming off a semifinal run in Stuttgart last week. Williams was playing her first clay match of the year, though she has passed the second round only once in Madrid. Fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina beat Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-2 after breaking her serve five times. Irina-Camelia Begu beat fifth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-3, and Kristina Mladenovic also upset 12th-seeded Coco Vandeweghe 7-5, 6-0. Sixth-seeded Karolina Pliskova and seventh-seeded Caroline Garcia advanced. Two-time defending champion and top-ranked Simona Halep opens today, along with Gabrine Muguruza, Caroline Wozniacki and Maria Sharapova.

Tiafoe advances

Frances Tiafoe of the United States upset defending champion Pablo Carreno 6-2, 6-3 to reach the Estoril Open final on Saturday in Estoril, Portugal. Tiafoe, 20, will face local favorite Joao Sousa in today's final after the Portuguese beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4). Tiafoe converted four of seven break chances to beat the second-seeded Carreno on the outdoor clay court. Tsitsipas, 19, committed five double faults, to go with four aces, in the loss to Sousa. Sousa will be seeking his third career title and his first since 2015.

Zverev, Kohlschreiber in final

Defending champion Alexander Zverev will face three-time former champion Philipp Kohlschreiber in the Munich Open final. Top-seeded Zverev needed 1 ½ hours to beat fourth-seeded Chung Hyeon 7-5, 6-2 in Saturday's semifinals for his first victory over the South Korean at the third attempt. Sixth-seeded Kohlschreiber defeated Maximilian Marterer 6-2, 6-4 in just over an hour for his 33rd victory at the clay-court tournament. Today's match between Zverev, 21, and Kohlschreiber, 34, will be the first all-German men's singles final since Florian Mayer beat Zverev to win the Gerry Weber Open in 2016.

BASEBALL

Ohtani back on mound

Shohei Ohtani is set to make his return to the mound after being announced as the Los Angeles Angels' starter for today's series finale against Seattle. The Angels listed Ohtani as the starter prior to Saturday's game. He went through a bullpen session on Friday and came out of that without issue. Manager Mike Scioscia said after Friday's game that all signs were pointing to Ohtani making the start. It sets up an enticing pitching matchup with Felix Hernandez set to get the start for Seattle. Ohtani had been scheduled to start earlier this week before a mild ankle sprain pushed back his turn in the rotation. Ohtani is 2-1 with a 4.43 ERA in four starts. He's struck out 26 batters in 20 1/3 innings.

DeGrom to start Monday

Jacob deGrom will make his next start for the New York Mets on Monday, Manager Mickey Callaway said before Saturday's game against the Rockies. DeGrom hyperextended his elbow swinging the bat in his last start, but an MRI revealed no ligament damage. He has since continued his regular preparation for his start on Monday. Callaway added that he does not plan on having deGrom swing a bat, though.

Indians acquire reliever

Reliever Oliver Drake, 31, has been acquired by the Cleveland Indians from the Milwaukee Brewers for cash. The right-hander is 1-0 with a 6.39 ERA in 11 games this year. He has 15 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings. Cleveland announced the trade before its game against the New York Yankees on Saturday. Drake was designated for assignment Tuesday. He is among three U.S. Naval Academy players to reach the major leagues. For his career, Drake is 5-5 with a 4.49 ERA in 102 relief appearances for Baltimore (2015-17) and Milwaukee (2017-18).

Moncada on 10-day DL

Chicago White Sox infielder Yoan Moncada has been put on the 10-day disabled list with tightness in his left hamstring. The White Sox made the move before Saturday night's game against Minnesota. Manager Rick Renteria said an MRI came back clean and the move was precautionary. Moncada, 22, made an early exit in Friday night's loss to the Twins. He also was taken out of Wednesday's game against St. Louis. Moncada is batting .263 with 6 home runs and 17 RBI. His .359 on-base percentage and .509 slugging percentage are both second on the team among regulars. The White Sox recalled infielder Jose Rendon from Class AAA Charlotte to take Moncada's spot on the roster.

BOXING

Golovkin wins by KO

Gennady Golovkin won his 20th consecutive middleweight title defense with a second-round knockout of Vanes Martirosyan on Saturday night at Carson, Calif. Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) tied Bernard Hopkins’ record for middleweight title defenses by sending Martirosyan down at 1:53 of the second round. After being tagged with a strong three-punch combination from Martirosyan (36-4-1) late in the first round, Golovkin responded with a devastating charge in the second. He started the onslaught with a short left and pounced on the damaged Martirosyan, finally dropping him with two powerful lefts. The fight was arranged at the last minute after Golovkin’s rematch with Canelo Alavarez fell apart.

Bellew stops Haye in 5th

Tony Bellew might have sent David Haye into retirement after stopping the former world heavyweight champion in the fifth round in a rematch in London on Saturday. Bellew, a cruiserweight, knocked down Haye three times when the referee brought a stop to the fight, repeating Bellew's victory over the same fighter in March 2017. Haye appeared to be struggling with a right ankle injury, the latest problem to afflict the 37-year-old boxer who said he would retire if he didn't beat Bellew comfortably.

Sports on 05/06/2018

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