Alex Bogomolov Jr unexpectedly found himself in the spotlight at the Hall of Fame Championships on Wednesday, upsetting fifth-seeded Arnaud Clement of France 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round of the rain-hampered event.
Playing in the one of the few mid-afternoon matches, Bogomolov beat Clement in front of an unusually large crowd on a side court.
Heavy rain halted the only three matches that were played on Tuesday. Despite bright sunshine, center court and one of the two side courts were still soggy on Wednesday.
PHOTO: EPA
Officials were unable to get center court in playable condition despite spending most of the day trying.
In other opening-round matches, third-seeded Sam Querrey of the US beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 6-3, 6-2, Nicholas Mahut of France beat American Amer Delic 6-4, 6-4, while sixth-seeded Philipp Petzschner of Germany defeated Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-2 in a match that started on Tuesday.
Two-time defending champion Fabrice Santoro of France had his match against Italy’s Flavio Cipolla halted by rain at 3-3 in the first set.
■BUDAPEST GRAND PRIX
AP, BUDAPEST
Shahar Peer of Israel upset defending champion Alize Cornet of France in straight sets in the second round of the Budapest GDF Suez Grand Prix on Wednesday.
Peer jumped ahead 5-1 in the first set before losing her serve, but did not allow Cornet much of a comeback and quickly closed out the set 6-2. The second set was even more lopsided and ended 6-0.
In today’s quarter-final, Peer will face sixth-seeded Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine who defeated Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Also in the second round, Romania’s Edina Gallovits upset third-seeded Sybille Bammer of Austria 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Bammer won the first set as expected and was up 2-0 in the second when Gallovits won three games in a row.
In the decisive set, Gallovits played more consistently and forced her opponent to commit more errors.
Gallovits will play qualifier Petra Martic of Croatia, who beat Ukraine’s Maria Koryttseva 6-3, 6-2.
In the only first round match played on Wednesday, top-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland defeated Andrea Petkovic of Germany 7-6 (7/3), 6-1.
Schnyder’s next opponent will be Italy’s Maria Elena Camerin.
■SWEDISH OPEN
AP, BASTAD, SWEDEN
Gisela Dulko of Argentina saved four match points in ousting fifth-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5) to reach the Swedish Open quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Dulko saved three match points at 5-3 down in the last set and another when Cirstea served for the second-round match at 5-4.
The Argentine, who upset Maria Sharapova in the second round at Wimbledon, ultimately overcame Cirstea in the tie-breaker.
Dulko will meet second-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, who defeated Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.
Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki was also a comfortable winner, 6-4, 6-2 over Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.
Third-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy cruised past Masa Zec Peskiric of Slovenia for the loss of three games, while seventh-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain conceded only five against Ellen Allgurin.
The Kansas City Chiefs wrapped up a brief visit to Brazil on Friday with a season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, but despite the defeat, the team outshone their divisional rivals in the fight for the hearts and minds of Brazilian fans. In Sao Paulo for just the second-ever NFL game in the city, Chiefs players — especially quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce — were treated as major celebrities throughout their stay, turning Corinthians Arena into a scene reminiscent of the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium. Before kickoff, crowds of fans gathered around the Chiefs’ tunnel, eager to catch a
New Zealand stayed firm at their Eden Park fortress to claim an attritional 24-17 win over South Africa in a heavyweight clash between the world’s top two rugby sides yesterday. Under pressure after conceding a first-ever defeat on Argentine soil against the Pumas two weeks ago, the All Blacks responded with a performance of grit and discipline to stretch their unbeaten run at their Auckland stronghold to 51 matches. Two well-taken tries by Emoni Narawa and Will Jordan set up a 14-3 lead at halftime before Quinn Tupaea grabbed a third five-pointer for the hosts 13 minutes from time. Well-held for most of
The Wallabies trusted their instincts to keep pushing for a late try instead of a potential equalizing penalty goal late in their Rugby Championship Test match yesterday against Argentina, with prop Angus Bell scoring the clinching try in the sixth minute of added time to give Australia a comeback 28-24 win. The Wallabies were awarded three kickable penalties after the 80th minute, but kept pushing in search of the match-winning try, which was finally delivered by an unlikely hero in reserve prop Bell. “It’s just relieving,” Bell said. “It’s just awesome we could get the win in the end; not go for
RETURN TO FORM: Osaka extended her deepest run in a Grand Slam since returning to tennis after giving birth, putting her in a position to lift the trophy for a third time Reigning champion Jannik Sinner on Wednesday marched into the US Open quarter-finals as Amanda Anisimova avenged her Wimbledon thrashing by Iga Swiatek to set up a last-four clash with Naomi Osaka. World No. 1 Sinner swept aside 10th seed Lorenzo Musetti 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 in the first all-Italian men’s quarter-final in Grand Slam history. “It was a great performance, very solid. I started the match very well,” said Sinner, who faces Canadian 25th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the semi-finals today. Auger-Aliassime has won two of three previous meetings, but Sinner thrashed him for the loss of just two games in Cincinnati last month. “Every
RSS