■FRANCE
Lyon stumble at home
Lyon’s chances of an eighth successive French league title suffered another blow on Friday when they were held to a 0-0 draw by fellow championship hopefuls Paris Saint-Germain. The draw left Lyon in third place, three points behind leaders Marseille who have a game in hand with just four matches left to play. The champions’ home form is beginning to turn into their Achilles heel in the title race as they have now won just three of their last 12 matches at the Stade Gerland. They also face a tough run-in to the campaign, with trips to Marseille and Toulouse still to come. Paris Saint-Germain had their best opportunity when top scorer Guillaume Hoarau was denied by Hugo Lloris in the Lyon goal in the 58th minute, but Lyon could have won six minutes from time when Karim Benzema’s shot come back off the post.
■GERMANY
Hertha move up to second
Hertha Berlin won 1-0 at Hoffenheim to revive their Bundesliga title hopes on Friday as they moved up to second place, just two points behind VfL Wolfsburg with five matches left. Hoffenheim, without a win since late January, dominated the match, but Hertha struck against the run of play five minutes before the break when Marko Pantelic fed Patrick Ebert on the right and the midfielder slotted past goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand. Hoffenheim kept coming and hit the bar through substitute Boubacar Sanogo in the 77th minute, but mostly ran into a solid Berlin backline, with defender Josip Simunic in commanding form.
■ENGLAND
Wembley pitch to be relaid
The pitch at the new Wembley Stadium is to be dug up and replaced in the wake of damning criticism from Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, the Football Association confirmed on Friday. Wenger branded the surface “a disaster” after Arsenal’s FA Cup semi-final defeat by Chelsea, while Ferguson claimed his selection for Manchester United’s penalty shoot-out defeat to Everton 24 hours later had been influenced by fears the likes of Wayne Rooney could be injured on the “spongy and dead” turf. The new pitch is to be laid in time for the FA Trophy final clash between Stevenage Borough and York City on May 9.
■SPAIN
Pepe handed 10-match ban
The disciplinary committee of the Spanish soccer federation announced on Friday evening a suspension of 10 matches for Real Madrid defender Pepe, for his part in the incidents at the end of Tuesday’s stormy clash with Getafe. The Portugal international pushed over Getafe’s Francisco Casquero for a late penalty, then kicked the veteran midfielder twice whilst he was on the ground and hit Getafe forward Juan Albin. On the other hand, the committee canceled out the yellow card shown to Real striker Gonzalo Higuain for diving in the penalty area.
■ENGLAND
Semi-final to be replayed
England’s World Cup semi-final with Germany is going to a replay — 19 years after a tear-filled, penalty shootout defeat. Former coach Bobby Robson is reuniting his England team from the 1990 World Cup to raise money for his cancer charity on July 26 at St James’ Park in Newcastle. “Hopefully, this time we’ll get the result we want against Germany,” Robson said on Friday. “We had a good group of players that year; very talented, very tough and ambitious. We got better as the tournament progressed, more accomplished and the fact we lost on penalties and not in open play tells its story.” Paul Gascoigne is expected to play.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set