Spain's Juan Martin del Potro celebrates after defeating Jack Sock of US in the men's final match at the ATP Stockholm Open tennis tournament in Stockholm on Sunday Oct. 23, 2016. (Jonas Ekstromer /TT via AP)
Spain's Juan Martin del Potro celebrates after defeating Jack Sock of US in the men's final match at the ATP Stockholm Open tennis tournament in Stockholm on Sunday Oct. 23, 2016. (Jonas Ekstromer /TT via AP) Credit: Jonas Ekstromer

Soelden, Austria — France’s Pinturault built on his first-run lead to win the season-opening World Cup giant slalom on Sunday.

Pinturault led defending overall champion Marcel Hirscher, of Austria, by 0.70 seconds. Germany’s Felix Neureuther was 1.37 behind in third.

Olympic and world GS champion Ted Ligety improved from 14th position after the opening run to fifth, 1.65 seconds off the lead. The American competed in his first race since tearing the ACL in his right knee nine months ago.

Pinturault earned his seventh win in GS, matching the French record set by great Jean-Claude Killy in 1967-68.

TennisDel Potro Ends Drought

Stockholm — Juan Martin del Potro won the Stockholm Open on Sunday to end a 33-month title drought, beating sixth-seeded Jack Sock, 7-5, 6-1.

Del Potro, who has struggled with wrist problems in recent years, won his 19th ATP tour title — and his first since winning in Sydney in 2014.

The Argentine, who did not drop a set during the tournament, broke his American opponent’s serve four times in the final and never faced a break point.

Both players held serve until 5-5 of the opening set, when del Potro raised his game to emerge with a one-set lead.

Kerber Toils, Wins

Singapore — Top-seeded Angelique Kerber struggled to defeat seventh-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3, on the opening day of the WTA Finals in Singapore on Sunday.

Kerber, who secured the top ranking last month, battled Cibulkova for 2 hours, 17 minutes before the Slovakian finally succumbed.

Earlier on Sunday, third-seeded Simona Halep won the first match of the round-robin portion of the tournament by taking a 6-2, 6-4 decision over sixth-seeded American Madison Keys.

Halep lost an initial 4-2 lead in the second set, but from 4-4 won the final two games.

SoccerQatar Announces FirstStadium Worker Death

A Qatar World Cup stadium worker has died in a building site accident, the first work-related fatality to be announced by organizers of the 2022 soccer tournament that has been dogged by concerns about labor conditions in the Gulf nation.

Qatar has previously reported three deaths at stadium construction sites but said they were not “work-related.”

The tiny, gas-rich country is relying on its large workforce of Asian laborers to build stadiums and related infrastructure to cope with staging soccer’s biggest tournament in the Middle East for the first time.

The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, which is tasked with building World Cup sites, did not name the worker who died on Saturday morning at Al Wakrah Stadium or provide his nationality.

Qatari officials believe the worker was hit by a water truck.

U.S. Women Blitz Swiss

Minneapolis — Carli Lloyd scored twice and the U.S. women’s national team defeated Switzerland, 5-1, in an exhibition match.

Christen Press, Crystal Dunn and Kealia Ohai also scored for the United States, playing its second friendly against Switzerland this week. The U.S. defeated the Swiss 4-0 on Wednesday night in Utah.

Ohai entered the game late for her international debut and scored 48 seconds later on for her first goal. It was the fastest goal in a debut in team history, one second faster than Lynn Williams’ goal in her debut on Wednesday.

Auto RacingHamilton Still in F1 Hunt

Austin, Texas — Lewis Hamilton got the victory he needed to keep his Formula One championship hopes alive, winning the U.S. Grand Prix for the fourth time in five years Sunday.

Hamilton cut Mercedes teammate and championship leader Nico Rosberg’s points lead to 26 with three races to go. Rosberg finished second ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo to maintain a relatively comfortable cushion over Hamilton in the title chase.

Rosberg doesn’t have to win any of the final three races to get his first career Formula One championship, even if Hamilton wins all of them. Two more seconds and a third place will wrap it up. But that also means Rosberg can’t afford a bad race if Hamilton is going to make a late charge.

Hamilton started from pole position and got one of his best starts of the season to hold position for his seventh victory of the season.