Alinghi Sweeps Series

Swiss sailing entry Alinghi defeated San Francisco’s Oracle by 48 seconds today off Auckland, New Zealand, to sweep a best-of-seven semifinal series and advance to the America’s Cup challenger series final.

Oracle dropped into the best-of-seven repechage competition, which will start Friday against the winner of the semifinal between OneWorld of Seattle and Prada of Italy.

OneWorld has a 2-1 lead in its semifinal series after defeating Prada by 58 seconds. The loser of that series is eliminated from the challenger competition.

Alinghi led by 35 seconds at the first turning mark on a course shortened from 18.5 to 12.5 nautical miles.

Oracle used a freshening breeze to cut Alinghi’s lead to 11 seconds at the leeward mark. But the Swiss yacht rebuilt its lead to 41 seconds on the second upwind leg.

The winner of the semifinal repechage will join Alinghi in the best-of-nine challenger final starting Jan. 11.

The final winner will race team New Zealand in the 31st Cup match starting Feb. 15.

Golf

Japan’s Shigeki Maruyama and Toshimitsu Izawa shot a six-under-par 66 and won the World Cup at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, when the U.S. team of Phil Mickelson and David Toms made double bogey on the last hole.

Japan won the two-man event with a score of 36 under. The U.S. team, which shot par or better through the first 17 holes of the round, shot a final-round 65 and finished at 34 under.

South Korea, which shot six under, and England, which shot four under, tied for third place at 30 under. Defending champion South Africa shot a final-round one under par and finished at 29 under. The final round was played in alternate-shot format.

Mickelson and Toms, who started the day three shots behind Maruyama and Izawa, came to the par-four 18th with a one-shot lead before Mickelson hit his tee shot into the rough.

Toms then pulled a six-iron left of the green. The ball skipped along the edge of the green before rolling into a rock-filled hazard.

Mickelson took a drop. His fourth shot ran about 15 feet past the pin and Toms’ putt for bogey slid by the right side of the hole.

Playing in the group behind the Americans, Maruyama made a birdie putt at the par-three 17th to tie the U.S. at 36 under.

Winter Sports

Stephan Eberharter of Austria injured his right knee in a crash in a World Cup giant slalom at Val d’Isere, France, in which Michael Von Gruenigen of Switzerland finished first and Bode Miller of the U.S. was second.

Eberharter, the overall World Cup defending champion, was flown to Innsbruck, Austria, where doctors said the skier had no fracture or ligament damage.

Von Gruenigen, 33, competing in his final season, recorded his second consecutive giant slalom victory, finishing with a combined time of 2 minutes 26.46 seconds.Von Gruenigen was 0.11 of a second ahead of Miller, the leader after the first leg. Austria’s Christoph Gruber was third, 0.43 of a second behind.

Sweden’s Anja Paerson won an experimental World Cup slalom at Sestriere, Italy, a three-run elimination format aimed at creating more suspense and better TV viewing. Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen finished second and Austria’s Nicole Hosp third. In the format change, no times were carried over, with the field of 72 cut to 30 after qualifying. The field was cut to 18 after the first run and nine after the second run. The final nine competed for the title.

College Sports

Tennessee began a baseball tour of Havana with a 2-0 victory over a team of youth all-stars. It was the first visit to Cuba by an NCAA Division I baseball team since Washington played there in September 2000.