Austin Dillon wins Nationwide race in Kentucky again

Rookie Austin Dillon took advantage of misfortune by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Elliott Sadler to win the Nationwide Series race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta on Saturday.

Sam Hornish Jr. was second, followed by Brendan Gaughan, Drew Herring and Sadler, who reclaimed the season points lead from Stenhouse.

Dillon seemed destined for a runner-up run behind Sadler, who got an opening when Stenhouse collided with Eric McClure on pit road on lap 33. That essentially handed first place to Sadler, and he began pulling away in pursuit of his fifth win this season.

But Sadler encountered steering issues with 50 laps left and subsequent pit stops for corrections ultimately yielded the lead to his Richard Childress Racing teammate.

Sadler has a four-point lead over Stenhouse, who finished 17th. Dillon is 19 points back.

Dillon, who won the pole, completed a season sweep at Kentucky. He dominated the June race, leading 192 of 200 laps.

ETC.

Stacy Lewis leads LPGA Classic

Third-ranked Stacy Lewis shot a seven-under 65 to take a two-stroke lead in the Navistar LPGA Classic at Prattville, Ala., while second-round leader Lexi Thompson fell five shots behind.

Lewis, a two-time winner this season, had a 15-under 201 total on the Senator course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Capitol Hill complex. She birdied four of the first five holes in her bogey-free round.

The 17-year-old Thompson had a 74 to drop into a tie for sixth at 10 under. Thompson won the event last year at 16 to become the youngest champion in LPGA Tour history, a mark broken last month by 15-year-old amateur Lydia Ko in the Canadian Women’s Open.

Angela Stanford was second after a 68. Lizette Salas with third at 12 under after a 70, and Haeji Kang and Mi Jung Hur followed at 11 under.

Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France beat eighth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, 6-0, 3-6, 6-4, to advance to the final of the Moselle Open in Metz, France, where he will defend his title against fifth-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy.

Seppi rallied past seventh-seeded Gael Monfils of France, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, to reach his third final of the season. Seppi and Tsonga will be going for their second titles of the year Sunday. Tsonga won the Qatar Open in January and Seppi won the Serbia Open in May.

Martin Klizan of Slovakia upset top-seeded Mikhail Youzhny at the St. Petersburg Open in Russia, beating the Russian, 6-7 (11), 6-4, 7-6 (3), to reach his first ATP final.

The third-seeded Klizan will face fourth-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy, who defeated Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain, 6-3, 6-4, in the other semifinal.

Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the finals of the Korea Open in Seoul, beating Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. The Dane will face Kaia Kanepi of Estonia on Sunday. Kanepi beat Varvara Lepchenko of the United States, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the other semifinal.

Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan scored beat Laura Robson of Britain, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, to win the Guangzhou Open in China.