Michael Russell won the first match of the pre-US Open summer hard-court season on Monday, starting the ATP Atlanta Championships with a 6-0, 6-3 thrashing of fellow American Donald Young.
Russell, 33, won his first main-draw match since early last month at Queen’s Club with his 72-minute hammering of one-time prodigy Young.
Russell advanced on the first of three match points in steamy, hot conditions after breaking the hapless Young five times.
He will next play South African second seed Kevin Anderson, a semi-finalist in the event’s inaugural edition last year. The 123rd-ranked Young lost his 10th match of the season.
The defending champion, American Mardy Fish, is top seed as he returns from a week of rest due to a lingering abdominal muscle strain. Fish beat Wimbledon marathon man John Isner in last year’s final.
Fish joked on Monday that North Carolina-born Isner, who went to university in Georgia before moving onto the ATP, is a favorite almost everywhere he goes in the US.
“The guy has 10 hometowns,” said Fish, who starts today after a bye awarded to the leading four seeds. “He’s from everywhere.”
Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller eliminated the week’s first seed as he put out No. 7 Alex Bogomolov of the US 6-3, 7-6 (8/6).
Second seed Isner is pleased to be back in his southern heartland after winning a grass title a week ago in Newport.
He makes his hard-court start against James Blake, who beat Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2.
“I don’t really care what surface it’s on so I’m coming to this event with the most confidence I’ve had all year,” said the big man, who set a record with the longest match ever at Wimbledon last year against Nicolas Mahut.
“Up to last week, the year had been a disappointment, so it was good to get that win under my belt. It takes a lot of pressure off, so I can go out there and free up and just play,” Isner said.
In other matches on Monday, Japan’s Tatsuma Ito defeated Michael Berrer of Germany 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 and Somdev Devvarman of India beat Ryan Sweeting of the US 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
GERMAN OPEN
AP, HAMBURG, GERMANY
Three German players defeated higher-ranked opponents on Monday to advance to the second round of the German Open.
Qualifier Bastian Knittel beat Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-4, 6-3 for his first tour-level victory of the year.
Wild-card Tobias Kamke, the ATP Newcomer of the Year last year, routed Pere Riba 6-1, 6-1 and he is now 2-0 against the Spaniard.
Julian Riester beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-3, 6-4 to avenge last year’s defeat in the third round in Hamburg.
Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic beat Potito Starace of Italy 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland defeated Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-4, 6-3.
Also advancing to the second round were Albert Ramos of Spain, Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine, Carlos Berlocq of Argentina and Victor Crivoi of Romania.
The 16 seeded players, led by No. 1 Gael Monfils, all had byes into the second round.
BAKU CUP
AP, BAKU
Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan brushed aside Sofia Shapatava of Georgia 6-0, 6-0 on Monday in the first round of the inaugural Baku Cup.
Voskoboeva never faced a break point and lost just four points on her first serve, wrapping up the victory in 54 minutes on the outdoor hard-court of the Baku Tennis Academy.
Vesna Dolonts of Russia also advanced by defeating Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-3, 6-3, while sixth-seeded Elena Baltacha of Britain lost 6-1, 7-5 to another Ukrainian, Mariya Koryttseva.
Top-seeded Vera Zvonareva was set to play her first match yesterday.
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