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Tuesday October 10, 2017

GERMANY completed a perfect World Cup qualifi cation cam-paign by beating Azerbaijan 5-1 in Kaiserslautern for a 10th straight win in Group C on Sunday.

Leon Goretzka scored twice, while Sandro Wagner — with his fi fth goal in fi ve interna-tional appearances — Antonio Rudiger and Emre Can were also on target to leave the Germans with 43 goals in total.

Switzerland is the only other country that can fi nish Euro-pean qualifying with maximum points.

Northern Ireland knew before its match at Norway began that a playoff place was guaranteed, courtesy of Slovakia fi nishing second in Group F and having an inferior points haul than the Northern Irish.

Norway won 1-0 thanks to a comical own-goal by Chris Brunt, who booted the ball into the roof of his own net from a meter out as he attempted to make a clear-ance. Czech Republic fi nished third, ahead of Norway, after beating San Marino 5-0 for its biggest win in qualifying.

San Marino lost all 10 games, scoring only two goals and con-ceding 51.

Meanwhile, with a record-set-ting 16th goal in European quali-fying, Robert Lewandowski led Poland’s charge into a fi rst World Cup since 2006.

The Bayern Munich striker has long been one of the most pro-lifi c players in European soccer, for club and country, and he’ll now be able to test himself at a global level when he competes at a World Cup for the fi rst time next year.

Lewandowski scored Poland’s third goal in its 4-2 win over Montenegro that clinched fi rst place in Group E, at the expense of Denmark. Poland is the fi fth European nation to qualify — after Belgium, Germany, Eng-land and Spain — with Russia already sure of participating as tournament host.

(SD-Agencies)

ON the last night of the Golden State Warriors’ weeklong tour of China, Stephen Curry was at his can-you-believe-it best, needing only three quarters to pour in 40 points, including six three-pointers. Golden State ran away with a 142-110 exhibition rout of the Minnesota Timberwolves in Shanghai on Sunday night.

“Obviously, Steph put on an amazing show for the fans,” War-riors head coach Steve Kerr said. “That’s what they want to see.”

That Curry has spent much of the past half-decade working to build his fan base in the NBA’s biggest international market made the outburst only more memorable.

In 2013, while in China for two exhibitions against the Lakers, Curry watched an injured Kobe Bryant repeatedly get his name chanted. Curry was just begin-ning to become a household name stateside, but he made himself a promise: Someday he would become as big in the Far East as Bryant.

Each of the past four years, Curry has visited China for promotional tours with Under Armour. He has run basketball clinics in a new city on each trip, tried tai chi and signed numer-ous autographs. Periodically, Curry has hosted a 45-minute Weibo chat with his Chinese fans.

Among his Rolodex of com-mercials are ad spots with Chinese cell phone company Vivo and Chinese car company eHi. To help appeal to his No. 1 audience outside the U.S., he

CHAMPIONSHIP leader Lewis Hamilton won the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, taking a major step toward winning his third Formula One title.

The Mercedes driver crossed the fi nish line 1.2 seconds ahead of Malaysia GP winner Max Ver-stappen to claim his eighth F1 victory of the season and third at the Suzuka circuit. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Daniel Ric-ciardo was third.

“The track was fantastic today and the team did an unbelievable job,” Hamilton said. “Max drove an outstanding race. Obviously, it wasn’t easy for us.”

Hamilton moved 59 points clear of title rival Sebastian Vettel with four races left. Vettel was forced to retire on the third lap when his Ferrari lost power.

(SD-Agencies)

RAFAEL NADAL beat Nick Kyr-gios of Australia 6-2, 6-1 Sunday in the China Open fi nal to win his sixth ATP title of the year, and Caroline Garcia defeated soon-to-be-No. 1 Simona Halep 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the women’s event.

Top-ranked Nadal, who was tied with Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev at fi ve titles this season, picked up his 75th career singles trophy with the win in Beijing.

The 15th-ranked Garcia, who lost to Halep the two previous times they played, won her second consecutive WTA title. The Frenchwoman will make her top-10 debut when the new rankings come out the next day.

The 31-year-old Nadal’s six trophies this year include a record 10th title at the French Open and a third at the U.S. Open. The last time the Spaniard won at least six titles in a year was in 2013 when he captured 10 trophies for the season.

Kyrgios started Sunday strug-gling with his serve and never found a confi dent range through-out the match. His fi rst-serve percentage mostly languished under the 50 percent mark.

In contrast, Nadal always looked in charge and saved all four break points he faced.

Curry wows Shanghai with 40 points

partnered with Under Armour to create a China-themed sneaker.

Along the way, Curry endeared himself to a fan base that appreci-ates All-Stars who take a personal interest in China. Curry, not the retired Bryant, has boasted China’s best-selling NBA jersey each of the past two years.

Throngs of fans, security details and crowd barricades have greeted Curry throughout Golden State’s stops in Shenzhen and Shanghai. The crowds at both exhibitions against Min-nesota were dotted with his No. 30 jersey.

When he trotted onto the court Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Arena for pregame warm-ups, Curry triggered a roar. Fans cheered as he swished jumper after jumper during shooting drills.

It was a fi tting setup to one of his more dazzling performances in recent memory.

Midway through the second quarter, Curry hit a three-pointer from the top of the arc to knot the game 66-66. Little more than a minute later, Curry sent a behind-the-back pass to Omri Casspi, who hit Klay Thompson for a corner three-pointer.

“Just to be out there on the

fl oor and watch him take over games like that, it’s special to watch,” Draymond Green said. “It’s special to be a part of.”

Curry paved a dominant War-riors third quarter that helped ensure their fi rst preseason win. Thompson was a worthy sidekick to Curry, chipping in 28 points.

“I’m happy the Shanghai fans and the fans in Shenzhen got a good glimpse of what he does so well,” Thompson said of Curry, who was not made available to the media. “I was glad to see so many Curry jerseys because he deserves it.” (SD-Agencies)

Germany routs Azerbaijan in qualifying match

Hamilton moves closer to F1 title

Lewis Hamilton

Nadal wins 6th title of year in Beijing

“I was playing very high inten-sity the whole match, changing the directions and not making many mistakes,” Nadal said.

Kyrgios offered Nadal eight break points in the fi rst set with Nadal taking two service breaks.

Kyrgios was angered by a line call in the fi rst set and his complaints eventually cost him a penalty point at the start of the eighth game.

Kyrgios didn’t make it onto the board in the second set until he was serving with Nadal already leading 5-0.

“In the semifi nal I played well, obviously beating Alex (Zverev),” Kyrgios said. “It’s a typical type of week for me: beat a player well, then pretty much no-show.”

Garcia also won her fi nal in straight sets.

“She played amazing tennis,” Halep said of Garcia. “She deserved to win today. She was better.”

For Halep, the loss was par-ticularly disappointing as she was unable to back up her guar-anteed debut in the No. 1 ranking yesterday.

(SD-Agencies)

Rafael Nadal of Spain poses with the winner’s trophy after beating Nick Kyrgios of Australia in the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing on Sunday. SD-Agencies

Stephen Curry (R) of the Golden State Warriors and Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves in action during their game in Shanghai on Sunday. SD-Agencies

Germany’s Emre Can scores their fi fth goal against Azerbaijan during their match in Kaiserslautern, Germany, on Sunday. SD-Agencies