Serena Williams became the first woman to move into the No. 2 ranking from outside the top five in a single tournament by winning the Australian Open.
Williams moved up five places from No. 7 in the WTA Tour tennis rankings, released yesterday, with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over top-ranked Lindsay Davenport in Saturday's women's final.
Roger Federer retained No. 1 position in the men's rankings despite losing in the semifinals of the Australian Open, while Lleyton Hewitt overtook Andy Roddick for second place after reaching the final.
PHOTO: EPA
Russia's newest Grand Slam champion, Marat Safin, retained fourth place in the men's rankings after beating Hewitt in Sunday's championship match.
Russia's two other female Grand Slam holders, French Open champion Anastasia Myskina and US Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, slipped in the rankings. Myskina dropped from third to fifth and Kuznetsova, beaten by Sharapova in the quarterfinals, fell one place to sixth.
Australia's Alicia Molik made the top 10 for the first time after beating Venus Williams in the fourth round and losing to Davenport in the quarterfinals. The biggest mover was Nathalie Dechy, who jumped from 25th to 13th by making the semifinals in Melbourne, where she eventually lost to Davenport.
Federer, who beat Safin in the 2004 Australian Open final ,retained the lead in the men's rankings.
Lleyton Hewitt proposed to his girlfriend, Rebecca Cartwright, an actress, following his defeat in the Australian Open tennis final, the couple said in a statement yesterday.
The couple's agents confirmed the engagement.
"Stephen Harmon from Encompass Management and Justine Cohen from Octagon confirmed Lleyton Hewitt and Bec Cartwright's engagement following the Australian Open finals," a statement said.
"Lleyton and Bec met five years ago at a Starlight Foundation charity tennis day and rekindled their relationship late last year."
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB