Harrison beats Basilashvili to win title
LOS ANGELES - American Ryan Harrison captured his first ATP title Sunday, winning all 12 break points he faced to defeat Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1, 6-4 and win the Memphis Open. Harrison, ranked 62nd, will jump into the world top 50 for first time since July 2012 by taking matchup of unseeded 24-year-olds who had not dropped a set all week at the indoor hardcourt event. The victory came after Harrison had lost seven ATP semi-finals but downed compatriot Donald Young to reach Memphis final. Harrison blasted eight aces in downing Basilashvili, who will rise from a career-best 67th in the rankings despite a loss in his second career final. Basilashvili, who made a semi-final run last week in Sofia, lost his only prior ATP final to Italy's Paolo Lorenzi at Austrian Open.–AFP
Nishikori suffers 6th successive final loss
BUENOS AIRES - Japanese top seed Kei Nishikori lost a sixth successive final Sunday when he was defeated by Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in the Buenos Aires clay-court title match. The world number five had already lost in Brisbane final in January to Grigor Dimitrov which followed 2016 defeats in tournament deciders in Basel (against Marin Cilic), Toronto (Novak Djokovic), Barcelona (Rafael Nadal) and Miami (Djokovic). "I'm happy to be in the final. Unfortunately I lost today, but Alex played better than me. I didn't play badly, so hopefully I can keep this level going," said Nishikori. For Dolgopolov, it was a third career title and first since 2012. "I think you can call it a perfect week. I didn't lose a set here and beat Kei for the first time," said the 28-year-old.–AFP
Williams keep faith with Di Resta
LONDON - Williams have opted to keep Scotland's Paul Di Resta as their reserve driver for the forthcoming Formula One campaign. Di Resta will provide cover for Williams' lead driver Felipe Massa and 18-year-old Canadian Lance Stroll. Massa is back with Williams following his short-lived retirement after Valtteri Bottas' move to Mercedes. Di Resta, 30, was given his Grand Prix debut by Force India in 2011 and made 88 starts over three seasons before joining Williams last year. "I am delighted to remain at Williams as reserve driver for the 2017 season," Di Resta said on Monday. "I'm looking forward to getting to grips with the controls and procedures of the FW40 and understanding the new regulations.” Di Resta's best race results in Formula One have been two fourth places.–AFP
Infantino to talk, party in South Africa
JOHANNESBURG - FIFA president Gianni Infantino will be in South Africa and Zimbabwe this week to meet African football bosses and attend a birthday party. He has invited all 54 African national football association presidents to Johannesburg for two days of meetings, starting Tuesday. The 46-year-old Swiss-Italian leaves for Harare Thursday to attend the birthday party of Zimbabwe football chief Philip Chiyangwa. Organisers of the two-day summit said Infantino will explain changes to the global game, including expanding the World Cup to 48 teams from 2026. African officials have long argued for more than the five World Cup places they compete for. No African team has reached the semi-finals and the first time two nations from the continent reached the knockout phase was in Brazil.–AFP
LAHORE: GCU vice chancellor Prof Dr M Hassan Amir Shah promotes sports through tug-of-war competition during the GCU 117th annual sports.