Andy Roddick wins pre-Wimbledon tournament

Andy Roddick’s confidence was boosted by winning the Eastbourne Championships on the eve of Wimbledon when he beat defending champion Andreas Seppi of Italy, 6-3, 6-2, in the final in England.

Tamira Paszek of Austria fought off five match points to defeat fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, in the women’s final.

Roddick entered the event as a wild card after losing his opening match at Queen’s Club last week, a defeat that stretched his losing streak to six matches dating to mid-March. It is his 31st career title, ending a 16-month drought.

Roddick was thrilled with his week in the genteel atmosphere of the English south coast resort.

“It’s everything I could have asked for,” he said. “I feel like I can come here and get my work in. The facility has been great. The courts have been great. There’s plenty of practice courts. The community really seems to support this event.

“You know, you’re not dealing with the hustle and bustle of a massive city. I think before a major, that’s nice. You can kind of come down here under the radar and get my work done and really have a positive week. So it was a really good opportunity for me.”

Paszek claimed her first title since she won Quebec City late in 2010, and her victory comes after she won just two matches this year with 11 first-round defeats.

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Top-seeded David Ferrer beat unseeded Philipp Petzschner, 6-3, 6-4, to win the Unicef Open grass-court tournament in Den Bosch, Netherlands, for the second time, while Nadia Petrova defeated Urszula Radwanska, 6-4, 6-3, to take the women’s title.

Etc.

Nelson Piquet Jr. held the lead on a late restart, then pulled away from the rest of the field to win the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

The Brazilian, a former Formula One driver and the son of three-time F1 champion Nelson Piquet Sr., became a winner in his third career Nationwide start after starting the race from pole position. Piquet’s extensive road racing experience paid off at the four-mile, 14-turn road course that winds through the hills of central Wisconsin.

Michael McDowell was second, followed by Ron Fellows, Max Papis and Sam Hornish Jr.

Jacques Villeneuve collided with Danica Patrick on the last lap as the two drivers were battling for fourth place, causing Patrick’s car to spin out. Villeneuve finished sixth, while Patrick recovered and finished 12th.

“Where Villeneuve goes, there tends to be cars that have problems, whether it’s his fault or the other car’s fault or [just] stock car racing at the end of the race,” Patrick said. “You all can make a decision for yourself, what you think happened there.”

Villeneuve, the 1995 Indianapolis 500 winner and 1997 Formula One champion, dominated the middle stages of the race but spun out on Lap 33 and lost several positions. He had words with a member of Patrick’s crew on pit road after the race.

“We were racing hard, and I wasn’t even fighting with Danica, I was fighting with Max Papis,” Villeneuve said in a radio interview. “And just before the braking [zone], I guess he was wanting to cross over and go to the inside of Danica. And he probably didn’t know I was there so he pushed me into the grass, and you don’t slow down that much in the grass. So by the time I was on the racetrack again, I was going a little bit slower than Danica. That’s all.”

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Scott Pruett took advantage of a late-race mishap by Ricky Taylor and held on to win the Grand Am Rolex sports car series race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. It was the first win of the season for the No. 01 BMW-Riley, driven by Pruett and co-driver Memo Rojas.

Taylor was leading under caution when his car appeared to break its suspension with less than 20 minutes left in the two-hour race. Pruett took the lead when the race restarted with about 12 minutes remaining and wasn’t seriously challenged the rest of the way.

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Englishman Brian Davis shot a six-under-par 64, and Roland Thatcher had a 65 to share the third-round lead at 12 under in the Travelers Championship at Cromwell, Conn. Both are looking for their first win on the PGA Tour.

Davis made an early move, shooting a 29 on the front nine with six birdies. Thatcher overtook him with three straight birdies on the back nine and had a one-stroke lead before missing a seven-foot par putt on the 17th hole.

Seventeen other players were within five strokes of the lead entering the final round.

John Rollins, James Driscoll and Stuart Appleby were two strokes back. Defending champion Fredrik Jacobson, who led after two rounds, shot even par to remain at nine under.

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South Korea’s Inbee Park shot a five-under 66 to take a two-stroke lead after the third round of the inaugural Manulife Financial LPGA Classic in Waterloo, Canada.

The 2008 U.S. Women’s Open champion had a 14-under 199 total at Grey Silo. She rebounded from a bogey on the par-three 17th with a birdie on the par-five 18th.

Brittany Lang and Hee Kyung Seo shot a 67 to reach 12 under.

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Bob Tway shot a seven-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Mark Calcavecchia after the second round of the Champions Tour’s Montreal Championship. The 53-year-old Tway had a nine-under 135 total on Vallee du Richelieu Golf Club’s Vercheres Course.

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Kyung Kim won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, beating Ashlan Ramsey 4 and 2 in the 36-hole final in Neshanic, Station, N.J. Kim, 18, from Chandler, Ariz., took a 2-up lead with a birdie on the 32nd hole, won the 33rd with another birdie and took the 34th with a par to close out the match. Ramsey, 16, is from Milledgeville, Ga.