Top-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy is on course for a successful defense of the Palermo Open title after a straight-sets win over Nuria Llagostera Vives in the quarter-finals.
Pennetta beat the Spaniard 6-4, 6-2 and will now meet eighth-seed Julia Goerges, who beat Jill Craybas 6-2, 6-4.
In the other semi-final, wildcard Romina Oprandi will face fifth-seeded Kaia Kanepi.
PHOTO: REUTERS
■SWEDISH OPEN
AP, BASTAD, SWEDEN
Robin Soderling battled through to the semi-finals of the Swedish Open on Friday with a hard-fought victory over Italy’s Andreas Seppi on a day when four of the top five-seeds won.
Top-seeded Soderling prevailed in three sets 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) at the clay-court tournament, but was given a scare by the 76th-ranked Seppi.
■MERCEDES OPEN
AP, STUTTGART, GERMANY
Fifth-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain has upset second-seeded Juergen Melzer 6-4, 6-1 to reach the semi-finals of the Mercedes Cup.
The No. 30 Montanes, aiming for his second clay-court title of the year, needed just 57 minutes to beat Melzer on Friday for his first victory over the Austrian in seven years.
In yesterday’s semi-finals, Montanes was to face compatriot and fourth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero after Ferrero beat Simon Greul of Germany 6-3, 7-5 to remain on course for his third ATP title of the year.
■PRAGUE OPEN
AP, PRAGUE
Patty Schnyder of Switzerland rallied past Anna Tatishvili of Georgia 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 on Friday to advance to the semi-finals of the Prague Open.
Schnyder, a former top-10 player, said she was surprised by her hard-hitting opponent and was “a bit lucky to win” after a slow start.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite