Truex rebounds to win Martinsville pole

Martin Truex Jr. vowed to win the four remaining races this season once he was knocked out of the playoffs. A pole-winning run at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia was a strong step toward fulfilling that goal.

Truex turned a lap at 98.206 mph to win the top starting spot for Sunday’s race. He also won the pole last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, but a blown motor led to his elimination in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

Joey Logano qualified second and was followed by eight-time Martinsville winner Jimmie Johnson. Los Gatos’ AJ Allmendinger qualified fifth, Chase Elliott was sixth and Tony Stewart seventh. Golf: Hideki Matsuyama shot a 7-under-par 65 in swirling winds at the HSBC Champions-Shanghai to take a three-shot lead going into the weekend of the final World Golf Championships event of 2016.

Matsuyama was at 13-under 131 and led by three shots over defending champion Russell Knox (68) and Bill Haas (67).

Amy Yang holed a pitching wedge for eagle on the par-4 11th hole and stretched her lead to three strokes in the hot, humid and stormy Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia after a 2-under 69 at TPC Kuala Lumpur.

Anna Nordqvist, Mi Jung Hur and Candie Kung were tied for second.

In Jackson, Miss., Grayson Murray shot a 7-under 65 to improve to 12-under 132 for a two-shot lead over Greg Owen and Seamus Power in the PGA Tour’s Sanderson Farms Championship.

Colin Montgomerie fired a 7under 65 to take a two-shot lead over six players in a PGA Tour Champions event in Thousand Oaks (Ventura County). Tennis: Defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska took the final spot in the semifinals of the WTA Finals, beating Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-3 in Singapore.

Radwanska, who finished 2-1 in round-robin play, will face topseeded Angelique Kerber in Saturday’s semifinals.

Earlier, Svetlana Kuznetsova earned first place in her group despite losing to Garbine Muguruza 3-6, 6-0, 6-1. Kuznetsova will next play Dominika Cibulkova, who reached the semifinals despite finishing 1-2.

Kei Nishikori defeated two-time champion Juan Martin del Potro at the Swiss Indoors in Basel, winning their quarterfinal 7-5, 6-4.

Top-seeded Stan Wawrinka lost 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 to Mischa Zverev.