HOCKEY
Dante Zapata broke a 1-1 tie early in the third period with his first professional goal, and the Tulsa Oilers prevented the Maine Mariners from clinching an ECHL playoff berth Saturday night, getting three third-period goals to pull away for a 4-2 win at Cross Insurance Arena.
Mitch Fossier scored both goals for the Mariners, and Michael DiPietro made 40 saves. Maine remains in third place in the North Division with seven games remaining.
TENNIS
MIAMI OPEN: Twelfth-seeded veteran Petra Kvitova, in her 13th appearance at the Miami Open, finally won her first crown there, upsetting seventh-seeded Elena Rybakina with a marathon tiebreaker in a 7-6 (14), 6-2 win.
The 33-year-old Kvitova, 10 years older than her opponent, snapped Rybakina’s 13-match winning streak and halted her bid to win the Sunshine Double (Indian Wells and Miami Open).
A past Wimbledon champion, the 6-foot Kvitova won the first-set epic tiebreaker 16-14 on her fifth set point. A suddenly shaky Rybakina hit a forehand long to end the 22-minute tiebreaker; she had been undefeated at 7-0 in tiebreakers in 2023.
The men’s singles final is Sunday and pits Jannik Sinner, coming off his semifinal upset of defending Miami Open champion Carlos Alcaraz, against Daniil Medvedev.
GOLF
PGA: Patrick Rodgers shot a 1-under 71 to take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio, with his first PGA Tour title and a spot in the Masters at stake.
Making his 235th tour start, the 30-year-old Rodgers had a 12-under 204 total at the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio. Canadian Corey Conners, the 2019 Texas Open winner, was second after a 69. Matt Kuchar was a shot back on the 18th tee, but he made a double bogey for a 69 to drop to third at 9 under.
LPGA: Ruoning Yin had the low round of her LPGA Tour career, a 7-under 64, to share the 36-hole lead with Hyo Joo Kim at the DIO Implant LA Open in Palos Verdes Estates, California.
SOCCER
ENGLAND: Even without Erling Haaland, the Premier League’s leading scorer, Manchester City came from behind to rout Liverpool 4-1 and stay in pursuit of first-place Arsenal.
Despite securing a statement win in the race for the title, the game was marred by more off-field trouble, as one of English soccer’s fiercest rivalries turned toxic again. The defending champions were left to condemn an apparent attack on their rivals’ team bus and address “hateful” chants from its supporters.
• Arsenal issued the perfect response to City’s win with a 4-1 victory against Leeds.
• A 2-0 loss by Chelsea at home to Aston Villa saw the Champions League quarterfinalists drop into the bottom half of the league, in 11th place.
• Bournemouth climbed out of the relegation zone with a 2-1 comeback win against Fulham.
• Crystal Palace secured a 2-1 win against Leicester, with Jean-Philippe Mateta’s decisive goal coming in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
AUTO RACING
NASCAR: Chandler Smith outran John Hunter Nemechek out of a restart with six laps to go at Richmond Raceway to get his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory.
Nemechek chose the inside lane on a restart with 12 laps left, relegating Smith to the outside. When another caution came for a crash at the back of the field, Smith had taken the lead and chose the outside for the sprint to the finish.
Smith won in just his 10th career start in the series. Nemechek was second, followed by Josh Berry, Kaz Grala and Cole Custer.
The race, delayed nearly an hour at the start after periodic morning rain, was run without practice or qualifying, started nearly an hour late under cloudy skies and finished in sunshine.
FORMULA ONE: Max Verstappen will have his best chance of claiming an inaugural Australian Grand Prix title after taking pole position in his Red Bull for Sunday’s third race of the Formula One season on the Albert Park circuit.
Mercedes driver George Hamilton shared the front row of the starting grid after recording a time 0.236 seconds slower than Verstappen.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will start in third position on what was an encouraging day for Mercedes, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso qualifying fourth.
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