Tennis

Even without Rafa, Spanish take a 2-0 lead on USA

GIJON, Spain – Even without facing Rafael Nadal, the United States is on the brink of elimination by the clay-court masters from Spain.

Sam Querrey and John Isner lost their opening singles matches Friday, giving the defending champions a 2-0 lead in the Davis Cup semifinals.

David Ferrer put the hosts ahead in the best-of-five series with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 win over Querrey. Nicolas Almagro beat Isner 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to leave Spain one point from its fourth final in five years.

The U.S. must win the doubles match today to stay in the series, with brothers Mike and Bob Bryan facing Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez.

Reverse singles are Sunday.

NFL

Broncos’ Moore draws $21K fine for his hit on Sanders

NEW YORK – Safeties Madieu Williams of Washington, Taylor Mays of Cincinnati and Rahim Moore of Denver were fined $21,000 each by the NFL for unnecessary roughness in Week 1.

Moore unnecessarily struck defenseless Steelers receiver Emmanuel Sanders in the head and neck area Sunday night.

NHL

All signs point to a lockout, the league’s 4th since ’92

NEW YORK – The NHL seemed headed for another lockout Friday as neither team owners nor players showed interest in getting back to contract negotiations a day before the old labor deal was set to expire.

Brief conversations late Thursday and Friday between leaders on the two sides failed to spur more formal talks – in fact, the idea of restarting negotiations didn’t even come up. The current collective bargaining agreement that ended the season-long lockout in 2005 will expire at 10 p.m. (Mountain) today, and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has said a lockout would kick in immediately if a new deal hasn’t been reached.

The lockout would mark the NHL’s fourth work stoppage since 1992.

Auto Racing

Stenhouse will drive 17 car for Kenseth in 2013 Cup

JOLIET, Ill. – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will drive Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 17 Ford next year on the Sprint Cup circuit.

Stenhouse, last year’s Nationwide Series champion, replaces Matt Kenseth in the 17 car. Kenseth is moving to Joe Gibbs Racing.

Andretti wins IndyCar pole; Power penalized to 13th

FONTANA, Calif. – Marco Andretti won the pole for the IndyCar season finale tonight at Auto Club Speedway.

Andretti’s qualifying average was 216.069 mph, and he narrowly held off Ryan Briscoe’s challenge of 216.058.

IndyCar points leader Will Power qualified third but will drop back 10 spots on the starting grid for making an unapproved engine change – same for Ryan Hunter-Reay, who qualified 17th. Power carries a 17-point lead over Hunter-Reay into the finale. Both drivers are seeking their first championship.

Golf

High wind wipes out play at Women’s British Open

HOYLAKE, England – Play was called off for the day at the Women’s British Open on Friday because of strong wind that disrupted the second round so badly that organizers declared early scores “null and void.”

With wind gusting to 60 mph at Royal Liverpool, players struggled to keep the ball on the tees and greens. Play was suspended at 8:25 a.m. with 36 players on the course, and the round was called off at 2 p.m.

The second round is scheduled to restart early today, with conditions forecast to be more playable. Organizers said the cut will be reduced from 65 and ties to 50.

The final two rounds are set for Sunday, with a two-tee start and no redraw between rounds.

Associated Press