Marc Gicquel beat Nicolas Mahut 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday at the Grand Prix Hassan II to reach the quarter-finals of a tournament for the second time this season.
The fifth-seeded Gicquel, who also reached the quarter-finals at the Zagreb Open in February, will next play No. 3 Julien Benneteau of France, who beat Michael Russell of the US 6-3, 6-3.
Also on Wednesday, Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo defeated Thierry Ascione of France 6-4, 7-6 (4).
The Spaniard will next play Sebastien Grosjean of France, who rallied from a set down to beat No. 6 Arnaud Clement 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Clement broke Grosjean in the opening game of the match and in the third game of the second set. But Grosjean broke Clement in the fourth game of the second set and saved two breakpoints in the next game.
Top-seeded Tathiana Garbin withdrew from the Gaz de France Budapest Grand Prix on Wednesday because of a left thigh injury.
The 23rd-ranked Italian was hurt when she beat Nuria Llagostera Vives 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a rain-delayed, first-round match. The first two sets had been played on Tuesday.
Also in the first round, fifth-seeded Eleni Daniilidou of Greece defeated Greta Arn of Germany 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 and Gisela Dulko of Argentina beat Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-2.
Agnes Szavay of Hungary upset seventh-seeded Elena Likhovtseva of Russia 6-4, 6-1.
Szavay, the 2005 junior French Open and Wimbledon champions, led 5-1 in the first set before Likhovtseva fought back to 5-4.
Likhovtseva was able to hold serve only once in the second set.
In the second round, Anne Kremer of Luxembourg defeated Alberta Brianti of Italy 6-4, 6-1 and Karin Knapp of Italy rallied to beat Karolina Sprem of Croatia 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
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