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Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
APWoods and his wife sat between Federer’s girlfriend and his agent. It’s interesting to note who wasn’t in that section: Federer’s coach, Tony Roche, who prepares his pupil for this event but doesn’t travel to it.
Roddick’s new adviser — they’re avoiding the word “coach” — is none other than five-time Open champion Jimmy Connors, of course. Connors chewed on his fingers when Roddick was having a hard time, and rocked back giddily after his charge’s nice shots.
“He played like a man tonight, win, lose or draw,” Connors said. “I’m so encouraged by the kid. I’m proud of him.”
Connors has rebuilt Roddick’s confidence and revamped his game, but Federer was able to come up with all of the answers, particularly in the tensest moments.
Critical tests of will and nerve came early in the third set: Federer faced four break points but saved them all to hold for a 3-2 lead, and Roddick then successfully dealt with five break points in the very next game to make it 3-all.
“We were pretty much fighting tooth and nail,” Roddick said.
But then, serving to take that set to a tiebreaker, Roddick faltered. Or better, Federer flourished, using two backhand return winners to break serve. Federer let out a scream of “Yes!” — about the only ounce of emotion he showed until falling to his back at the very end.
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Federer was beyond brilliant at the start, using a mix of well-spun aces, curling passing shots, crisp volleys and reflex returns of Roddick’s serves topping 135 mph.
When Federer hit his fourth ace at 131 mph to cap that opening five-game run, Roddick bowed his head and shook it.
“You don’t want to get embarrassed out there, that’s for sure,” Roddick would say later.
Shortly thereafter, the first set was done. Federer hit a cross-court backhand passing shot that dipped as though attached to a string, and then he broke for the third time by getting back a 142 mph serve with a return so tough Roddick meekly slapped a forehand into the net.
And then, suddenly, Roddick got back into the match, breaking Federer at love to open the second set and running to the sideline with an uppercut and a yell.
The book on Roddick has been that his game is limited to two power strokes, his serve and his forehand. But in the past couple of months with Connors, the repertoire has expanded, and Roddick held his own in the second set and most of the third.
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On one point, Roddick reached for a half-volley to extend the exchange, and then, with both players at the net, hit a reflex volley winner.
After speaking about the changes to his own game, Roddick was asked about whether Federer is better than when he beat Roddick in the 2004 and 2005 Wimbledon finals.
“He’s improving as well,” Roddick said, “which is scary.”
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
