Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco sent a chill through Argentine tennis yesterday, winning their doubles match to give Spain a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup final in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Lopez and Verdasco defeated David Nalbandian and Agustin Calleri, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (5), 6-3, boosting Spain's hopes of winning the best-of-five championship on the road despite the absence of an ailing Rafael Nadal. Spain could be in good position for its third Davis Cup crown if Argentina's leading player, Juan Martin del Potro, cannot play reverse singles because of a leg injury. The schedule for today tentatively has del Potro meeting David Ferrer, then Nalbandian playing Lopez. On Friday, Nalbandian defeated Ferrer and del Potro fell to Lopez.

Jimmy Connors was arrested outside the campus arena where UC Santa Barbara and top-ranked North Carolina were playing a basketball game. The eight-time Grand Slam champion was taken into custody Friday night after refusing to comply with an order to leave an area near the entrance of the Thunderdome following a confrontation.

Paula Creamer has played well enough this week to have a chance of winning the LPGA Tour's money title. That is, if she can get out of the hospital today.

Hours after becoming one of eight qualifiers for the final round after shooting a 70 at the ADT Championship in West Palm Beach, Fla., and its $1 million first-place prize, Creamer -- who has been sick since Wednesday night -- was admitted to an area hospital because of severe abdominal distress.

She will stay there overnight, and a decision as to whether or not she plays the final round will be made early this morning. If Creamer wins the season-ending event, she'll become the first U.S.-born money champion since Betsy King in 1993

• Tommy Armour III birdied the final two holes for a 65 and 14-under 202 total to take a 5-stroke lead over Rich Beem (68) in the Pebble Beach Invitational in California.

• Oliver Wilson made six birdies and held off a charge from Bernhard Langer to take a one-stroke lead after three rounds of the Hong Kong Open. Wilson shot a 5-under 65 for a total of 13-under 197, a shot better than Taiwan's Lin Wen-tang (64). Langer had a 63 and was two back of the leader.

Brian Joubert's sensational short program gave him such a big lead, he won the Cup of Russia in Moscow even with a less-than-stellar free skate.

Carolina Kostner topped error-strewn Fumie Suguri with an elegant free skate to win the women's title, and China's Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao hung on to win the pairs.

Joubert finished fourth in the free skate, five points behind Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic. But Joubert had built such a commanding lead after the short program that he still easily won the title.

The United States men will open the final round of regional qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup at home against Mexico and finish its run against Costa Rica. The other three teams in CONCACAF'S qualifying tournament, played between February and October, are El Salvador, Honduras and Trinidad and Tobago. The low-key draw was conducted a few hours ahead of FIFA's draw for the Confederations Cup next year, widely seen as a warm-up to the World Cup. For the Confederations Cup, the U.S. team was drawn with World Cup champion Italy, Brazil and Egypt in one group. European champion Spain joins New Zealand, Iraq and South Africa in the other.

John Mitchell, the Steelers' assistant head coach, has been elected to the state of Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2009. Mitchell, who has coached the Steelers' defensive line since 1994, was the University of Alabama's first black All-American football player, in 1972. He was a two-time, All-SEC player and the team's defensive captain. Mitchell started in 24 games for the Tide, which was 21-3 with two Southeastern Conference titles during that period. Mitchell, 47, is part of a six-man class and joins previously inducted John Stallworth as the second member of the Steelers organization inducted into the Alabama Hall.