■TENNIS
Victoria Azarenka pulls out
Victoria Azarenka of Belarus pulled out of the Mercury Insurance Open on Monday, a day after she won the Bank of the West Classic. Azarenka reportedly has a shoulder injury and was scheduled to face US teenager Melanie Oudin in her first match. Azarenka celebrated her 21st birthday on Saturday. A day later she beat Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-1 for her first title of the season.
■TENNIS
Williams, Isner combining
No. 1-ranked Serena Williams will combine with John Isner to represent the US in a star-studded field at the Hopman Cup international mixed teams tennis tournament in January next year. Williams and Isner will join the Serbian pair of Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic, Belgium’s Justine Henin, Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt and France’s Gael Monfils in the tournament. Djokovic won the Australian Open in 2008 after reaching the Hopman Cup final with Jelena Jankovic and says the tournament provides an ideal prelude to the season’s first Grand Slam event. “I’m looking forward to going back to the Hopman Cup,” Djokovic said. Williams will partner with Isner, the 206cm American best known for winning the longest match in professional tennis history. He beat Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set of their 11-hour, five-minute first-round match at Wimbledon this year.
■FORMULA ONE
Ferrari faces hearing
Ferrari will face motor sport’s world governing body in a disciplinary hearing next month after having been found guilty of breaking team order rules at last month’s German Grand Prix. FIA said on Monday the World Motor Sport Council hearing will be chaired by Nick Craw, its deputy president for sport, in Paris on Sept. 8. Ferrari has already been fined US$100,000 after Brazilian driver Felipe Massa appeared to let teammate and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Spain pass him to win the race on July 25. The council has the power to exclude Ferrari from the championship, although that is highly unlikely.
■SOCCER
Germany draw most fans
World Cup top scorers Germany drew the highest number of television fans among European teams at the tournament while troubled France received lukewarm support from viewers, a report said on Monday. A study by German consultancy Sport+Markt said more than 82 percent of German TV viewers tuned in to watch their side in South Africa, compared with less than two-thirds of French fans watching Les Bleus’ first-round departure. More than 15 million British viewers watched England’s disappointing campaign, compared with more than 26.5 million German viewers who saw their team finish third.
■BASEBALL
Uni-President, Yanks sign
Uni-President China, an instant noodle maker, has signed a four-year sponsorship deal with the reigning World Series champion New York Yankees, the MLB club said on Monday. The deal boosts Uni-President’s sponsorship of the China Baseball League and as part of the contract the Yankees will make a donation to the QSL Youth Sports Development Foundation, China’s largest sports-related youth charity. QSL helps support a youth baseball program in China. Uni-President, a Chinese subsidiary of Taiwan’s largest processed food producer, will advertise on a Yankee Stadium sign and in team publications as part of the deal.
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