Ruud beats Draper in Madrid Open final to win his first Masters 1000 title

MADRID >> Casper Ruud became the first Norwegian to win a Masters 1000 title after beating Jack Draper 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 in the Madrid Open final on Sunday.

The former second-ranked Ruud rallied from 5-3 down in the first set and sealed the victory after capitalizing on his lone break at 2-2 in the third.

The 26-year-old Ruud yelled and thrust both arms into the air after clinching the win on his first match point on the Caja Magica clay court.

The 15th-ranked Ruud will return to the top 10 thanks to his campaign in Madrid, reaching No. 7 in the rankings on Monday.

The 13-time tour champion is the first Norwegian to lift a Masters 1000 trophy since the series was introduced in 1990, according to the ATP. It was Ruud’s third such final after losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas in Monte Carlo last year and to Carlo Alcaraz in Miami in 2022.

TCU women first school outside of California to win NCAA beach volleyball championship

GULF SHORES, Ala. >> TCU’s Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno came from behind to win the final match on Sunday as the second-seeded Horned Frogs wrapped up their first NCAA women’s beach volleyball championship with a 3-2 victory over No. 4 seed Loyola Marymount.

TCU (32-5) is the first school other than USC and UCLA to win the title. The Trojans won the first two and the previous four, while the Bruins won two straight in 2018-19.

Alvarez and Moreno, who took a year off to play in the Olympics, returned to finish unbeaten in four years as a duo. Alvarez and Moreno dropped the first game 18-21 to LMU’s Michelle Shaffer and Anna Pelloia before rallying to win the final two 21-15 and 15-6.

Chido Obi becomes youngest player to start a Premier League match for Man United

LONDON >> Chido Obi became the youngest player to start a Premier League match for Manchester United when he lined up as the team’s striker against Brentford on Sunday at the age of 17 years and 156 days.

Obi is a Denmark youth international who joined United from Arsenal last year and made five appearances in the league this season, each time as a substitute, before getting his first start.

He played the full match in United’s 4-3 loss and didn’t score. Indeed, he has yet to score for the senior team.

With the game coming in between legs against Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League semifinals, United rotated heavily and fielded a team against Brentford with an average age of 22 years and 270 days.

China’s Zhao Xintong 7-1 up against Mark Williams in final of snooker worlds

SHEFFIELD, England >> Zhao Xintong dominated Mark Williams in the opening session of the world snooker championship final on Sunday, running up a 7-1 lead in his bid to become the first Chinese winner of the sport’s biggest prize.

Zhao, who thrashed seven-time champion Ronnie O’Sullivan 17-7 in the semifinals, was in complete control at the Crucible Theatre against another great of the game, with Williams a three-time champion and playing the final at the age of 50.

The 28-year-old Zhao won each of the first three frames to set the tone in the best-of-35-frames match and has made two centuries so far.

He is the firm favorite to become just the third player in history to win the worlds after coming through qualification.

— The Associated Press