Spain

What was already a rugged assignment became significantly more difficult when the United States lost its opening two singles matches Friday against host Spain in the Davis Cup semifinals on clay at Gijon. David Ferrer, coming off a semifinal spot at the recently completed U.S. Open, beat Sam Querrey after a slow start, winning, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4, in the opener. Then American John Isner followed with one of his trademark five-setters but lost to Nicolas Almagro. Almagro won the marathon, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Isner is now 4-10 in career five-set matches, and, in fact, exited in each of the four Grand Slams in 2012 with losses in five sets.

TOMATO MANIA The town of Bu ñ ol, Spain, drew about 40,000 people to its annual La Tomatina food fight , a decades-old tradition that's kicked off when somebody climbs a greased pole to reach a hanging ham. And then the tomatoes start flying. The only rules: Smoosh the tomatoes before throwing -- and they must be tomatoes. [Smithsonian] BLACK HOGG READIES FOR BEER AND WINE Black Hogg in Silver Lake has closed temporarily to ready for its beer and wine permit.

A well-intended but ultimately very underqualified octogenarian woman in Borja, Spain, has become something of an international art celebrity as her attempt to restore Elias Garcia Martinez's "Ecce Homo"-styled fresco transformed a more than century-old depiction of Christ into something else entirely. Many have decided Cecilia Gimenez's new look has given the painting a vaguely simian cast, while others have gotten more specific in noting the painting's uncanny resemblance to the monkey-like '80s toy Monchhichi . An inevitable satirical Twitter handle, @FrescoJesus , is more all over the map in deciding upon a resemblance, describing itself as a hedgehog in one instance and referencing its "action figure face" in another.

More pleasures in Petaluma Regarding "A Gem Hidden in Plain Sight," by Avital Andrews, Aug. 5: Guys, you missed the Petaluma Cheese Factory - a must in Petaluma. Rich Fischbeck Irvine :: Thanks for including Della Fattoria in Petaluma. While visiting family in the Bay Area, we stopped at the restaurant for lunch. The food was fabulous. My mother and I enjoyed the best BLTs we'd ever had. My sister-in-law loved her veggie piadina and was happy to see a number of vegetarian dishes on the menu.

Chris Paul grabbed the game ball and handed it off quickly to a Team USA attendant for safekeeping. Then the U.S. players jumped up and down in a huddle near midcourt as "Born in the USA" played on the North Greenwich Arena speakers. Some of them grabbed flags and jogged around with them over their heads. It could mean only one thing. The U.S. had defeated Spain, 107-100, in the Olympic gold-medal game Sunday. Kevin Durant scored 30 points, LeBron James had 19 and the U.S. capably extended a one-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

LONDON - There won't be a blowout in the gold-medal game. Kevin Durant has 17 points in the first half and the U.S. barely leads Spain at halftime, 59-58, Sunday at North Greenwich Arena. Juan Carlos Navarro has 19 points for Spain, which has made seven of 13 three-point attempts (54%). Surprisingly, neither Pau Gasol nor brother Marc Gasol factored in the first half, Pau scoring eight points and Marc scoring only six. Kevin Love has nine points for the U.S. The Americans beat their previous seven opponents by an average of 35.7 points, while Spain messed around in preliminary play, barely beating a lousy Great Britain team, losing to Russia and then falling to Brazil in a meaningless game.

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LONDON - It wasn't easy, or particularly graceful until the fourth quarter, but the U.S. men's basketball team finally prevailed in the Olympics final. Kevin Durant scored 30 points as the U.S. defeated Spain, 107-100, in the gold-medal game Sunday at North Greenwich Arena. LeBron James added 19 points and Kobe Bryant had 17 for the U.S., which held a one-point lead going into the fourth quarter. James scored on a dunk and hit a three-pointer as the shot clock dwindled, giving the U.S. a 102-93 lead with 1:59 to play.

Below are five things to take from Team USA's 107-100 gold-medal win Sunday over Spain in the 2012 London Olympics. 1. LeBron James deserves team MVP for his performance. For far too long, James faced criticism for shrinking in the fourth quarter after dominating nearly every facet of the game in the previous three periods. That turned on its head in the gold-medal game against Spain, in which he looked fairly passive for the first three quarters. But that all changed when Team USA needed James the most, finishing with 19 points on eight-of-13 shooting, seven rebounds and four assists.

LONDON -- Kevin Durant is one of the more polite and accessible stars in the NBA. Thus, it wasn't surprising when he patiently listened to a long-winded question from a foreign journalist asking how the U.S. can win Sunday's gold-medal game against Spain when it's more a collection of superstars than a true national team that trains together for four years. What was mildly surprising was how edgy Durant's answer defending his team sounded. "Not one guy that you named is averaging what we average with our [NBA]