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Stacy Lewis takes HSBC Women’s Champions by one shot

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Stacy Lewis had a case of the jitters. She also had enough left in her game.

Lewis, the 2012 LPGA player of the year, won the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore on Sunday for her sixth title on the tour. She closed with a one-under-par 71, overcoming two bogeys and some shaky putting on the back nine to hold off South Korea’s Na Yeon Choi by one stroke.

“The last four or five holes, I was pretty nervous, I’m not going to lie,” said Lewis, who finished at 15-under 273 at Sentosa Golf Club.

“I just played hard and put my head down and tried to make as many putts as I could, and fortunately I came away with the win.”

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Choi, who had a 72, was runner-up in the tournament for the second consecutive year. She lost to Angela Stanford in a four-player playoff last year.

Paula Creamer, hampered by a shoulder injury from a car accident last week in Thailand, held a share of the lead early in the day but struggled with her putting on the back nine and faded to a 71 to finish third at 13 under. Top-ranked Yani Tseng shot a 74 to finish tied for 28th.

TENNIS

Qualifier Gulbis wins title

Qualifier Ernests Gulbis beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin, 7-6 (3), 6-3, for his second title in the Delray Beach (Fla.) International Championships.

The 109th-ranked Gulbis, who also won the tournament in 2010, is the first qualifier to reach a final this season. The previous qualifier to win an ATP World Tour title was Jarkko Nieminen last year in Sydney.

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Gulbis also became the third qualifier to win the title at Delray Beach, joining Kei Nishikori (2008) and Andrew Ilie (1998). The Latvian is set to move way up when the next rankings are released.

Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic fought back from a poor first set to beat American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, and win the Malaysian Open at Kuala Lumpur.

ETC.

Maze gets police protection

World Cup-winning skier Tina Maze was put under police protection for a super-G race at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, after an emailed death threat against her.

The Slovenian finished fourth and had two bodyguards close by after the race, which was won by Anna Fenninger of Austria.

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The threat came in an email received Saturday afternoon after Maze won the downhill on the same slope and become the first skier to collect more than 2,000 points in a season.

Peter Fischer, chief of the organizing committee, said the email came from an anonymous source and was immediately turned over to the police.

Maze said she had never felt safer in her life, adding, “I’ve had police in front of my door all the time since yesterday.”

Fenninger beat hometown favorite Maria Hoefl-Riesch by 0.20 of a second on the Kandahar course for her third career victory and second of the season.

American Julia Mancuso was third. She and Maze are still in competition for the season super-G title, which will now be decided in the World Cup finals at Lenzerheide, Switzerland, in two weeks.

Aksel Lund Svindal clinched the World Cup super-G title after winning his first race in Norway.

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The Norwegian edged Austria’s Georg Streitberger by 0.52 of a second to win in 1 minute 29.79 seconds at Kvitfjell. Werner Heel of Italy ended third, 0.57 of a second back.

The victory gives Svindal an unassailable 480 points, ahead of Italy’s Matteo Marsaglia, who has 249, and Matthias Mayer of Austria with 228.

In the overall standings, Svindal closed in on leader Marcel Hirscher with six races left. The Austrian has 1,215 points, and Svindal is second with 1,186. Ted Ligety of the United States is third with 809.

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The Kings’ Stanley Cup championship was selected as the No. 1 sports moment of 2012 at the Los Angeles Sports Awards. The awards are presented annually by the Los Angeles Sports Council.

Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick was the sportsman of the year, and Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings, gold medalists in beach volleyball at the London Olympics, were sportswomen of the year.

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The Kings’ Darryl Sutter and AEG President Tim Leiweke were honored as top coach and executive, respectively.

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