Digest

TABLE TENNIS

Wang and Sun shine at WTT Cup Finals

World champion mixed doubles pair Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha showed their singles prowess by claiming the men's and women's titles respectively at the WTT Cup Finals in Xinxiang, Henan province, on Sunday.

Wang beat Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto 4-2 (8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8, 8-11,11-7) in the men's final, while Sun rallied past reigning Olympic champion Chen Meng 4-3 (4-11, 11-4, 11-8,12-10, 6-11, 10-12, 12-10) for the women's title.

Harimoto is the only paddler to defeat Wang this month, prevailing 3-1 in Japan's semifinal defeat to China at the Chengdu World Team Championships. The 19-year-old seized the early momentum in Xinxiang before Wang hit back to win three straight sets.

"We both played an excellent match today," Wang said. "I've learned a lot from these past few tournaments, and there's a lot on my mind. I need to take some time to reflect on my performances."

Sunday's triumph was world No 7 Wang's third title on tour this year after victories at the WTT Star Contender European Summer Series in Budapest and the WTT Champions Macao a week ago.

Earlier in the evening, women's world No 1 Sun fended off a late comeback from Chen to win a thrilling seven-set battle.

BADMINTON

China collects two titles at French Open

China's He Bingjiao and the pair of Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong claimed the women's singles and mixed doubles titles respectively at the French Open on Sunday.

He overcame an early scare to beat Spain's Carolina Marin 16-21,21-9, 22-20 in her final.

"I lost to my opponent in the last couple of matches, but today it was my turn to win," He said.

In the mixed doubles final, Zheng and Huang edged past Robin Tabeling and Selena Piek of the Netherlands 21-16, 14-21, 22-20.

"Every match makes us stronger, even when things get tense, we believe we can win," said Zheng.

Viktor Axelsen of Denmark defeated compatriot Rasmus Gemke to win the men's singles title in Paris. Malaysian pair Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan claimed the women's doubles title, and India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the men's doubles.

MOTOR SPORTS

Max notches record 14th victory of season

Max Verstappen set the Formula 1 record for wins in a season on Sunday at the Mexico City Grand Prix, where he scored his 14th victory to break the record shared with Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.

Schumacher set the record in 2004, Vettel tied it in 2013 and Verstappen was tied with the Germans following his victory last week at Circuit of the Americas.

Having also triumphed at Miami and Montreal, Verstappen swept the North American portion of this year's F1 schedule.

The Dutchman retained his F1 world championship with four races remaining in the season, clinched the constructors' championship for Red Bull with three races remaining in the season, and has two races left to thoroughly demolish the wins-in-a-season record.

Red Bull has now won nine consecutive races, tying the team record set in 2013.

Lewis Hamilton finished second for the second consecutive week. Britain's seven-time world champion might have had a shot at his first win of the season but Mercedes made the wrong call on a tire change that gave Verstappen control.

GOLF

Johnson's prize money tops $35m for year

Dustin Johnson watched the final putt of his season roll in, pumped his right fist and waited for the party to begin.

Another big celebration. Another big check, too.

Johnson drove the green on the 370-yard (338-meter) par-4 16th to set up an easy birdie that provided a bit of breathing room, Patrick Reed birdied his last hole to put their squad ahead for good and 4Aces GC captured the season-ending LIV Golf team championship at Trump National Doral in Florida on Sunday by one shot over Cameron Smith and the Punch GC team.

The victory capped a monster earnings year for Johnson, by far the biggest money winner in the first year of the Saudi-backed LIV tour. Including his $18 million for winning the season-long individual title, Johnson finished with $35,637,767 in prize money.

Johnson (70), Reed (70), Talor Gooch (71) and Pat Perez (70) shot a combined 7-under 281 on the par-72 Sunday — and split $16 million.

BASKETBALL

LeBron stars as Lakers finally stop the rot

LeBron James scored a game-high 26 points and the Los Angeles Lakers became the last NBA team to win a game this season, defeating Denver 121-110 on Sunday.

Anthony Davis added 23 points and 15 rebounds while Russell Westbrook came off the bench to contribute 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists as the host Lakers improved to 1-5 by ending their futility run.

"We needed this one," Davis said. "We needed this for our team, our spirits, our fans, our organization. We came out and showed what we're capable of. It could be the start of a run for us."

The 0-5 start had matched the 2014-15 Lakers for the worst in the club's history, which dates to 1947, but the victory avoided a new mark and gave coach Darvin Ham his first victory.

"It feels good to get that monkey off our back," Davis said. "Get a win in the win column and try to get this thing going."

The Lakers scored their most points of any game this season to subdue the Nuggets, who fell to 4-3 despite 23 points and 14 assists by Nikola Jokic.

Agencies