■TENNIS
Serbia win World Cup
Newcomers Serbia clinched the World Team Cup in Duesseldorf with a 2-1 victory over hosts Germany in the final on Saturday. Janko Tipsarevic gave Serbia their second, winning point when he beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 6-4 for an unassailable 2-0 lead with the doubles rubber remaining. The Serbs, who also won all three group matches, grabbed the lead when Viktor Troicki edged past Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 7-6. Serbia became the first country since Yugoslavia in 1990 to win the cup on their debut appearance, organizers said. Nicolas Kiefer and Mischa Zverev took a point for Germany in the dead doubles rubber, beating Troicki and doubles world No. 1 Nenad Zimonjic 7-5, 4-6, 10-7.
■TENNIS
Lopez takes first ATP title
Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez won his first career ATP title as he took the Kitzbuhel claycourt tournament with a 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 victory over Frenchman Julien Benneteau in Kitzbuhel, Austria, on Saturday. After a titanic struggle that lasted 3 hours and 10 minutes the 25-year-old Garcia-Lopez, ranked 74 in the world, tasted his first tournament triumph over the right-handed Benneteau. Benneteau finished on the losing side of the net in his third appearance in a final, as the Spaniard overcame the setback of losing the first set 6-3 when there were five breaks of serve. Garcia-Lopez sharpened his game in the second set and Benneteau was forced to save two set points at 5-6, before falling apart in the tie-break which the Spaniard won comfortably 7-1.
■TENNIS
Rezai wins in Strasbourg
Aravane Rezai of France beat Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 7-6 (2), 6-1 on Saturday to win her first WTA Tour title at the Strasbourg International. The No. 79 Rezai saved eight break points in the first set, rallying from 5-3 down as Hradecka wasted a chance to serve out the opener. Rezai won six consecutive games in the second set and closed it out on her fifth match point. Rezai is the first Frenchwoman to win at Strasbourg, where past winners included Steffi Graf, Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport. It was Rezai’s third final.
■BOXING
Rigondeaux TKOs Noriega
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux won his professional debut with a third-round technical knockout over Juan Noriega on Friday. Rigondeaux, who defected from Cuba in February, was not as busy with his punches, but still wore down the American in their junior featherweight bout at the Fontainebleau Hotel and Resort in Miami. Referee Sam Burgos stopped the fight at 1:09 of the third round after Rigondeaux landed a right to the head without any follow-up shots. Noriega didn’t dispute Burgos’ call.
■CYCLING
Valverde maintains lead
Alejandro Valverde of Spain maintained his 15-second overall lead in the Volta of Catalunya after Saturday’s next-to-last stage. Thor Hushovd of Norway, riding for the Cervelo team, won the sixth stage by edging Fabio Sabatini of Italy and Greg Henderson of New Zealand in the final sprint of the 150.5km leg between Torredembarra and Barcelona. Hushovd, a sprint expert who finished second in Friday’s fifth stage and won last Monday’s prologue, timed 3 hours, 26 minutes and 43 seconds. With one stage remaining, Valverde is ahead of Daniel Martin of Ireland. Haimar Zubeldia of Spain is 22 seconds back in third.
■SOCCER
Trofense, Belenenses go out
Trofense and Belenenses were relegated from the Portuguese league after suffering defeats in final-round games on Saturday. Last-place Trofense lost 1-0 at Pacos Ferreira, while No. 15 Belenenses went down 3-1 at Benfica for results that allowed the other two relegation-threatened teams, Rio Ave and Setubal, to survive. Trofense, promoted last season, saw their hopes of avoiding a swift return to the second division thwarted when William scored in the 75th minute for Pacos Ferreira. Belenenses ended an 11-year stay in the topflight despite a third-minute goal at Benfica by captain Silas. The home team then replied through goals by Oscar Cardozo in the 21st minute, Filipe Bastos in the 63rd minute and substitute Pedro Mantorras in injury-time.
■SOCCER
Falkirk send Inverness down
Inverness were relegated from the Scottish Premier League on Saturday after losing 1-0 to Falkirk in the last round of matches. Substitute Michael Higdon turned in Jackie McNamara’s cross in the 68th minute to ensure Falkirk remained in the top flight. The turning point came in the 39th minute when Inverness defender Ross Tokely was sent off for a challenge on Steve Lovell. The result prevented St Mirren from being relegated despite losing 1-0 to Hamilton through Simon Mensing’s header in the 28th minute. Mehdi Taouil scored a last-minute winner to end Kilmarnock’s season on a high with a 2-1 win at Motherwell.
■SAILING
‘Ericsson 4’ first in Galway
Ericsson 4 tightened its grip on the Volvo Ocean Race yesterday, reaching Galway in Ireland ahead of the field after a grueling transatlantic crossing from Boston. Victory in the seventh stage of the round-the-world challenge, one of yachting’s most prestigious events, gives the Swedish entry clear breathing space with only three legs to go. Skippered by Brazil’s two-time Olympic gold medalist Torben Grael, the boat arrived shortly after 3am to a raucous Irish welcome, with thousands cramming the Galway docks. Sino-Irish entry Green Dragon drew the loudest cheers when it pulled in third. “They know how to put on a good show in Ireland,” Ericsson 4 crew member Jules Salter said. “And this is just brilliant.”
■RUGBY UNION
Ireland defeat Canada
Barry Murphy, Ian Whitten and Tony Buckley each scored a try and Ian Keatley booted two penalty kicks to give Ireland a 25-6 victory over Canada on Saturday in an international rugby match. The Irish took command with a try in the 63rd minute, Ulsterman first-capper Whitten taking a pass from center Darren Cave and scoring with Keatley, another making his senior-level debut, adding the conversion for a 20-6 Ireland edge. Buckley followed four minutes later with a final try and while Keatley missed the conversation, he still earned man of the match honors. Ireland grabbed the lead in the 18th minute when Cave chipped a kick to Murphy for a try to open the scoring and Keatley converted.
■RUGBY UNION
Sivivatu out of the final
The Waikato Chiefs suffered a setback to their Super 14 final hopes against the Northern Bulls, with All Blacks wing Sitiveni Sivivatu forced out with a dislocated shoulder. Sivivatu was injured during Friday’s 14-10 semi-final victory over the Wellington Hurricanes and was ruled out of the squad following a medical assessment yesterday, the club said on its Web site.
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