Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg has surgery on right elbow

Washington Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg underwent arthroscopic surgery in Los Angeles to remove bone chips from his right elbow.

The team said outfielder Bryce Harper and first baseman Adam LaRoche also had operations last week. Harper had the bursa in his left knee repaired after it had hampered him last season. LaRoche had his left, throwing elbow cleaned up. All three are expected to be ready by spring training.

Strasburg, whose procedure was performed by Dodgers team physician Neal ElAttrache, is scheduled to resume his off-season throwing program in four to six weeks, the Washington Post reported.

Two-time National League Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum finalized his $35-million, two-year contract with the San Francisco Giants after passing a physical.

TENNIS

Williams, Li in final

An exhausted Serena Williams hung on to beat Jelena Jankovic, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, and advance to the final of the WTA Championships against Li Na at Istanbul. Li beat Petra Kvitova, 6-4, 6-2 Third-seeded Roger Federer set up a rematch with Juan Martin del Potro the Swiss Indoors title at Basel by beating 40th-ranked Vasek Pospisil, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-5. Federer faltered when serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set; and he fell behind 3-1 in the final set before rallying Top-seeded David Ferrer and unseeded Mikhail Youzhny each swept their matches to reach the final at Valencia, Spain.

ETC.

Guthrie shares lead

Luke Guthrie, who had a three-shot lead at one point in his back nine, wound up tied for the lead with Rafa Cabrera-Bello at eight-under 208 in the BMW Masters at Shanghai Chris Stroud, who came from five shots back, and Ryan Moore shared a one-stroke lead at 12-under 204 after three rounds of the CIMB Classic on the PGA Tour at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Second-round leader Keegan Bradley faded to sixth with a 76 Defending champion Suzann Pettersen had three early bogeys but recovered for a 73 to maintain a four-shot lead at six-under 210 after the third round of the Sunrise Championship at Yangmei, Taiwan Kenny Perry bogeyed the final hole to drop into a five-way tie for the lead at eight-under 136 after two rounds of the Champions Tour’s AT&T; Championship at San Antonio.

Bernard Hopkins battered Karo Murat, turning the later rounds into a mission to score what became an elusive knockout, as the 48-year-old retained his share of boxing’s light-heavyweight championship with a unanimous decision at Atlantic City, N.J. Hopkins (54-6-2) won, 119-108, 119-108, 117-110. Murat’s record dropped to 25-2-1. “I really wanted the knockout, but he was tough,” Hopkins said.

U.S. Olympic track stars Lolo Jones and Lauryn Williams were among nine women chosen for the U.S. bobsled national team, putting them squarely into the mix for the three push spots in the 2013 Winter Games at Sochi in February. The top three drivers will be Elana Meyers, Jamie Greubel and Jazmine Fenlator.

In the NBA, free agent Jamaal Tinsley rejoined the Utah Jazz to fill the void created by Trey Burke, will be out at least two months because of a broken finger.

Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel, aiming for a fourth consecutive season title, won the pole for Indian Grand Prix at Greater Noida, India.

Points leader John Force topped funny-car qualifying in the NHRA Toyota Nationals with a track-record run of 4.011 seconds at 317.79 mph at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Shawn Langdon (top fuel), Mike Edwards (pro stock) and Hector Arana (pro-stock motorcycle) also led qualifiers in the fifth of six events in the Countdown to the Championship.

Fifteen-year-old Julia Lipnitskaia of Russia won the Skate Canada women’s title at Saint John, Canada, finishing with 198.23 points after a nearly flawless long program. Japan’s Akiko Suzuki was second at 193.75. American Gracie Gold, the leader after the short program, was third at 186.65. Three-time world champion Patrick Chan of Canada landed two huge quad jumps to open his free program and finished with 262.03 points to easily take the men’s title.