Sweden will play Germany for a place in the Tennis World Team Cup final after eliminating the US on Wednesday.
Despite Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey taking a 2-6, 6-2, 10-3 win over Sweden’s Robert Lindstedt and Robin Soderling, the US were eliminated by a 2-1 scoreline after losing Tuesday’s singles matches.
Sweden will play host nation Germany for a place in tomorrow’s final. Germany beat France 3-0 to remain in contention.
PHOTO: EPA
Eight teams are split into two groups and three rounds are played as a round-robin, with each tie consisting of two singles and a doubles played over two days.
The Red Group comprises France, Germany, Sweden and the US, and the Blue Group is made up of Argentina, Italy, Russia and Serbia.
Following Rainer Schuettler’s victory over Gilles Simon on Tuesday, Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-3, and Nicolas Kiefer and Mischa Zverev completed the German rout with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Jeremy Chardy and Gilles Simon.
In the Blue group, Russia was eliminated after losing to Serbia 3-0. Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic beat Evgeny Korolev and Stanislav Vovk 6-1, 6-1 after Serbia had claimed victory in the two singles matches on Tuesday.
Argentina also swept Italy 3-0, with Maximo Gonzalez beating Simone Bolelli 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 and Juan Martin Del Potro and Maximo Gonzalez overcoming Francesco Piccari and Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-3.
■AUSTRIAN OPEN
AP, KITZBUEHEL, AUSTRIA
Jurgen Melzer of Austria reached his first quarter-final of the season with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Agustin Calleri of Argentina in the second round of the Austrian Open on Wednesday.
The second-seeded Melzer, ranked at a career-high No. 26, had five aces and converted his fourth match point against Calleri, who won the event in 2006.
Melzer will take on seventh-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny in the quarter-finals.
Youzhny, who reached the final of the BMW Open in Munich earlier this month, defeated Stefan Koubek of Austria 6-2, 6-4.
Third-seeded Victor Hanescu of Romania also advanced after downing Marcel Granollers of Spain 6-1, 7-6 (2).
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