Robin Soderling struggled to a patchy if encouraging victory on Wednesday to open play at the Estoril Open as Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga made a miserable debut at the clay court event.
Top seed Soderling was looking on the bright side after coasting in the first and last sets, but fighting for his life in the second to emerge with a 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1 defeat of France’s Jeremy Chardy.
Tsonga, like Soderling playing his first career match at the Estadio Nacionale, was much less successful as he went down quietly to Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-2, 7-6 (7/0).
A third French player lost as Brazilian sixth seed Thomaz Bellucci defeated Eduard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.
Today the top seed takes on eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro after the Argentine continued his successful return to the surface after nearly two years, crushing Colombian Alejandro Fala, 6-2, 6-1 in 70 minutes without facing a break point.
In women’s play, the top three seeds reached the last eight, with No. 1 Alisa Kleybanova of Russia putting out Mathilde Johansson of France 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.
Second seed Jarmila Gajdosova won a battle with fellow Australian Casey Dellacqua, playing for the first time on the WTA since Wimbledon due to injury, 6-2, 6-4. Czech No. 3 Klara Zakopalova came back against Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. Sixth seed Elena Vesnina of Russia and No. 8 Hungarian Greta Arn were beaten.
SERBIA ATP OPEN
AFP, BELGRADE
World No. 2 Novak Djokovic reached a perfect 25-0 winning record this season with a second-round victory at the Serbia ATP Open, beating Romanian qualifier Adrian Ungur on Wednesday.
With his 25th victory Djokovic registered the best start to an ATP tour season since Ivan Lendl in 1986.
After beating Ungur 6-2, 6-3 in less than 70 minutes on the clay, the and local crowd favorite said: “I want to thank the audience for attending the game in pouring rain. The most beautiful thing is to play before a domestic audience.”
The 23-year-old Djokovic’s quarter-final opponent today will be Slovenian Blaz Kavcic. Djokovic said he had lost against Kavcic when he was 14.
“This is my chance for revenge,” Djokovic joked.
BARCELONA OPEN
AP, BARCELONA, SPAIN
Alexandra Dulgheru became the latest seed to exit the Barcelona Open when she was beaten 7-5, 6-3 by Spanish qualifier Estrella Cabeza Candela on Wednesday.
The 245th-ranked Cabeza Candela broke her second-seeded opponent seven times to set up a quarterfinal with Czech player Lucie Hradecka.
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