NEW YORK — A persistent rainstorm forced postponement of the U.S. Open men’s final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic until today, marking the third straight year the season’s final Grand Slam tournament will finish a day late.
Nadal and Djokovic were scheduled to start around 2:30 p.m. MDT Sunday, but the rain began about two hours before and hadn’t stopped two hours later, when tournament officials decided to call it a night. They rescheduled it for no earlier than 2 p.m. MDT today.
• Jack Sock beat Denis Kudla 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to win the U.S. Open boys title in the first all-American junior final in a decade.
Top-seeded Daria Gavrilova beat Yulia Putintseva 6-3, 6-2 in an all-Russian girls final.
Storm takes Game 1
SEATTLE — Sue Bird made a tiebreaking jumper from the free-throw line with 2.6 seconds left as the Seattle Storm beat the Atlanta Dream 79-77 in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals.
Angel McCoughtry had a last- second try for the Dream, but her long 3-pointer from the left side bounced off the far side of the rim at the buzzer.
The best-of-five series resumes Tuesday night in Seattle.
America’s Cup changes coming?
America’s Cup organizers are scheduled to make several major announcements in Valencia, Spain, today amid increasing indications that the next regatta will be sailed in 72-foot catamarans in 2013.
Early indications were that the 34th America’s Cup would be sailed in 2014. However, organizers are concerned that racing during a year with the World Cup and the Winter Olympics could hurt corporate sponsorships.
Sailing the regatta a year earlier would also reduce the cost of campaigns and get the event back in front of the public quicker after the image of the America’s Cup was severely damaged during a bitter 2 1/2-year court fight between San Francisco-based BMW Oracle Racing and two-time champion Alinghi of Switzerland.
Nibali retains Vuelta lead
LAGOS DE COVADONGA, Spain — QuickStep rider Carlos Barredo won the 15th stage of the Spanish Vuelta, while Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali kept the overall lead.
The Spaniard won the tough 116.4-mile mountain ride — starting at Solares and ending with a special category finish at Lagos de Covadonga — in 4 hours, 33 minutes, 9 seconds.
In the overall standings, Nibali, who rides for Liquigas-Doimo, kept a four-second lead over Spanish rival Joaquin Rodriguez of Team Katusha.
Alonso leads the way
MONZA, Italy — Fernando Alonso recovered from a poor start to win the Italian Grand Prix for home team Ferrari and revive his Formula One title chances.
The Spaniard lost the lead to McLaren’s Jenson Button at the first corner but regained it after the pit stops to hold on for a 2.9-second victory.
Felipe Massa of Ferrari was third and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel finished fourth.
The Associated Press
