KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. — Swapping shrieks along with their shots, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka made rallies sound like a car alarm Saturday.
Sharapova was the soprano, Azarenka the alto, and their alternating arias could be heard on the beach across the street from the Sony Ericsson Open.
But Sharapova was flat and her opponent sharp. Azarenka swept nine consecutive games to take charge and won the tournament for the second time, beating Sharapova, 6-1, 6-4.
The final matched two of the most notorious grunters in tennis, and while both were noisy, Azarenka’s shots had more bang. Sharapova committed 43 unforced errors, held serve only once and came up short with a late comeback bid.
McMurray captures pole
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Jamie McMurray took a step toward jump-starting his season by winning the pole for today’s Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway.
McMurray turned a lap of 96.509 mph to earn the top starting spot. He came to Martinsville ranked 28th in the series standings and with a season-best finish of 18th in the opener at Daytona.
Ryan Newman qualified second with a lap of 96.342. Kasey Kahne qualified third and was followed by Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Joey Logano and three-time defending race winner Denny Hamlin.
• Rumors that Kimi Raikkonen was headed to NASCAR became reality when the former Formula One world champion signed with Kyle Busch Motorsports.
The Finn will make his NASCAR debut May 20 in the Trucks Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
• Johnny Sauter passed Kyle Busch one lap before the finish to win the Trucks Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
• John Force raced to the No. 1 qualifying position in funny car in the NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Larry Dixon (top fuel) and Mike Edwards (pro stock) also topped qualifying.
N’Dam defends WBA title
LE CANNET, France — Unbeaten Frenchman Hassan N’Dam (26-0) successfully defended his interim WBA middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Giovanni Lorenzo (29-3) of the Dominican Republic.
• Germany’s Marco Huck (32-1) retained his WBO cruiserweight title for the sixth time with a unanimous decision over previously undefeated Ran Nakash (25-1) of Israel in Halle, Germany.
Footnotes.
Naama Shafir scored a career-high 40 points as Toledo won its first postseason championship in school history with a 76-68 victory over visiting Southern California in the WNIT title game.
• England beat the U.S. women’s soccer team for the first time since 1988, handing the top-ranked Americans a 2-1 exhibition defeat in London.
• Larry Finch, who coached his alma mater Memphis for 11 seasons after a brief pro basketball career as a player, died at age 60.
