Top-seeded Maria Sharapova earned her first title in 10 months with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 victory on Sunday over Patty Schnyder in the final of the Acura Classic.
Sharapova fired off sharp groundstrokes in the first and third sets to capture her first championship since winning a WTA title at Linz, Austria, in October.
The No. 2 ranked player, who was the defending champion, dropped her first set of the tournament that had a 24-year run in the San Diego-area. Promoters sold the tournament rights back to the WTA Tour, which plans to relocate the event.
"It's always good to win a title," Sharapova said. "But to actually come back the year after and back it up is good."
Schnyder, the No. 11 seed, had no answers for Sharapova in the first set as her Russian opponent consistently hit the lines with forehands and backhands.
"In the first set, I felt like I hit some really good shots, especially when she was serving," Sharapova said. "It opened some doors for me."
But the Swiss woman settled down in the second set and earned her first break of serve to take a 3-1 lead. Sharapova broke right back, but Schnyder eventually broke again for a 5-3 lead. The left-hander took the second set when Sharapova hit a forehand long.
The third set was a repeat of the first as Sharapova began hitting crisp winners again. Sharapova jumped out to a 4-0 lead after breaking Schnyder in the second and fourth games. She finished off the match with a crosscourt forehand winner.
Second-seeded Agnieszka Rad-wanska routed Vera Dushevina 6-1, 6-1 on Sunday to win the Nordic Light Open for her first WTA title.
Dushevina, who also played her first WTA final, was visibly bothered by a toe blister and did not move well around the court.
"I knew it," Radwanska said. "I have had the same problems on hard courts. Of course, it was not so good for the match."
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