SANTIAGO, Chile — Andy Roddick showed why he’s the go-to guy when the United States needs to close out a Davis Cup tie.
Roddick defeated Paul Capde- ville 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday, giving the U.S. an insurmountable 3-1 lead in its 4-1 victory over Chile in the first-round Davis Cup World Group series.
Roddick improved 12-0 in matches that can clinch a Davis Cup matchup for the U.S. and is 33-11 overall in 24 ties since 2001.
John Isner finished off the 4-1 victory with a 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-5 win over Guillermo Rivera-Aranguiz in the meaningless second reverse singles.
The victory was the first for new U.S. Davis Cup captain Jim Courier, who played on the 1992 and 1995 winning Davis Cup squads.
The Americans advanced to the quarterfinals and will play at home in July against Rafael Nadal and Spain, 4-1 winners over Belgium.
• The International Tennis Federation confirmed that Ivo Karlovic of Croatia broke the world record for the fastest serve.
He struck a 156 mph serve in the fourth set of a doubles match against Germany in Davis Cup play on Saturday, breaking Roddick’s previous record of 155 mph.
• Jelena Dokic beat Lucie Safarova 2-6, 7-6 (9), 6-4 in the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur to earn her sixth career WTA singles title after a nine-year drought.
• Second-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated top-seeded Jelena Jankovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 to defend her title at the Monterrey Open in Mexico.
Belgian wins Paris-Nice opener
HOUDAN, France — Belgian Thomas De Gendt won the first stage of the Paris-Nice cyling race, comfortably beating Frenchman Jeremy Roy by seven seconds after a late breakaway.
The 24-year-old Vaconsoleil rider completed the 95.8-mile course that looped around the outskirts of Paris — starting and ending in Houdan — in 4 hours, 4 minutes, 53 seconds.
• Alberto Contador won the Vuelta de Murcia in Spain in his second competition since avoiding a doping ban.
The Tour de France champion defended the lead from Saturday’s mountain stage by winning the 7.7-mile time trial.
Footnotes.
The Boston Celtics signed Carlos Arroyo for the rest of the season after the guard was released by the Miami Heat, who waived the nine-year veteran to make room for Mike Bibby.
• Saul Alvarez dominated nearly every minute and unanimously outpointed Matthew Hatton in Anaheim, Calif., late Saturday night to win the vacant WBC 154-pound belt, picking up the first world title of the 20-year-old’s skyrocketing career.
• Petter Northug of Norway won the men’s 50-kilometer freestyle to earn his third gold medal at the nordic world skiing championships in Oslo, Norway.
• Frenchman Martin Fourcade overcame three penalties and Kaisa Makarainen shot clean to claim their first major biathlon gold medals, winning pursuit events at the world championships in Khanty- Mansiysk, Russia.
The Associated Press
