In Brief

TENNIS

Argentina wins doubles, cuts
Spain's Davis Cup lead to 2-1

Argentina won the doubles against Spain on Saturday to stay alive at 2-1 in the Davis Cup final at Seville, Spain.

David Nalbandian and Eduardo Schwank, partnering for the first time, eased to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Spanish pair Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez on the clay at Olympic Stadium.

But the Argentines will have to sweep today's reverse singles to get the win, meaning they have to beat Rafael Nadal. Nadal, unbeaten on clay in 16 Davis Cup matches, opens for four-time champion Spain against Juan Martin del Potro.

Also: Francesca Schiavone defeated both Venus and Serena Williams in singles before they rallied to win a doubles match in an exhibition in Milan, Italy.

Schiavone defeated Venus 7-5, 7-3, then countered a strong comeback from Serena to defeat the younger sibling, 7-3, 8-10, 8-6.

Flavia Pennetta also beat Venus, whose strap broke on her dress before a sellout crowd of 11,000. Venus dashed off the court and returned in her third outfit of the event. She also brought popcorn to share with Pennetta, who won, 7-6, 7-2.

Serena defeated Pennetta 6-8, 7-3, 7-3 before the Williams sisters won the doubles, 3-7, 8-6, 8-6.

GOLF

Westwood fires 62 to take
lead at Nedbank Challenge

Defending champion Lee Westwood shot 10-under 62 to take a seven-shot lead at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City, South Africa.

The No. 3-ranked Westwood produced the best round under normal rules at the tournament, reeling off 10 birdies for a 16-under 200 total at the $5 million invitational event.

Padraig Harrington shot 61 in 2001, when players were allowed to clean and place their ball because of wet weather.

Westwood picked up eight shots on overnight leader Graeme McDowell (70), who shared second at 207 with Robert Karlsson (69).

Also: Alvaro Quiros of Spain shot 3-under 67 to hold a one-shot lead after the third round of the Hong Kong Open. Quiros was at 10-under 200, with Sweden's Peter Hanson in second.

Rory McIlroy (70) was three shots back.

Mark Calcavecchia shot 5-under 67 to win the Nedbank Senior Challenge by a stroke over Ian Woosnam and Bernhard Langer in Sun City, South Africa.

Calcavecchia finished at 9-under 207.

Christine Song shot even-par 72 to take a four-stroke lead into the last round of the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament in Daytona Beach, Fla. The 20-year-old Song, from Fullerton, Calif., had a 10-under 278 total.

Junthima Gulyanamitta (68) was in second, and Henderson resident Jennie Lee (73) was third at 4-under 284. The top 40 and ties will receive LPGA Tour membership, with the top 20 earning full status.

MISCELLANEOUS

Wranglers' big second period
fuels victory over Steelheads

The Wranglers scored the first four goals of the game, rolling to a 4-1 victory over the Idaho Steelheads in ECHL action at Orleans Arena.

After a scoreless first period, Josh Lunden scored seven minutes into the second for Las Vegas (11-6-4). Ash Goldie followed seven minutes later, and Scott Campbell made it 3-0 on a power-play goal with 12 seconds left in the period.

Mike Madill put the Wranglers up 4-0 on another power-play goal four minutes into the third. Idaho (8-10-3) got its only goal when Jacob Cepis scored with 4:26 remaining.

Also: Wladimir Klitschko's promoter Bernd Boente said the WBA and IBF heavyweight champion is recovering well after having a kidney stone removed.

Boente told a German news agency that Klitschko could leave the Duesseldorf, Germany, hospital after the surgery.

Klitschko is scheduled to fight French challenger Jean-Marc Mormeck in Duesseldorf on Saturday. Boente said the bout was still on as long as there were no further complications.

Alexander Povetkin (23-0) retained his WBA heavyweight title with an eighth-round knockout of American challenger Cedric Boswell in Helsinki.

Povetkin, who conceded a 6-inch reach advantage, had the 42-year-old Boswell (35-2) on the ropes by the end of the seventh round with a succession of big punches.

Abner Mares retained his IBF bantamweight belt with a unanimous decision over Joseph Agbeko in Anaheim, Calif.

Mares (23-0-1, 13 KOs) won 118-110 on all three scorecards in a rematch of his majority-decision victory over Agbeko (28-4) in August.

American Lindsey Vonn won a women's World Cup downhill for the second day in a row at Lake Louise, Alberta.

Vonn finished in 1 minute, 51.35 seconds to beat Marie Marchand-Arvier of France and Elisabeth Goergl of Austria.

The UNLV men's swim team finished fifth while the Rebels women placed seventh in the Texas Hall of Fame Invitational in Austin.

Balint Batka had the best finish of the day for UNLV's men, posting a fourth-place time of 1:46.44 in the 200-meter butterfly.

Marley Prothero placed eighth in the 200 breaststroke in 2:13.47 to pace the Rebels women.