Top seed Gilles Simon and third-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov made early exits in the first round of the St Petersburg Open on Monday.
Adrian Mannarino rallied to beat his fellow Frenchman Simon 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, while Dolgopolov was upset by Israeli wild-card Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-2.
Earlier, fifth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia advanced to the second round, beating Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-3, 7-6 (9/7), while Potito Starace of Italy defeated Russian wild-card Ivan Nedelko 6-0, 6-1.
Photo: Reuters
The 12th-ranked Simon, who was making his debut at the event, trailed by a break in each set. He broke Mannarino three times to claim the first set and also leveled at 1-1 in the second, but the 86th-ranked Mannarino, who is yet to win a title, broke once more to level the match and then again in the third set, before closing out the win on his third match point.
The 97th-ranked Sela broke Dolgopolov twice in each set to hand the 16th-ranked Ukrainian his second successive early exit after Jeremy Chardy of France ousted him in straight sets in Moscow last week.
Youzhny, who won the tournament in 2004, broke early in each set. Stakhovsky, the winner two years ago, managed to break back in the second for 2-2 and then force a tiebreaker. Youzhny closed out the match on his second match point.
“It was a tough match, although I managed to break early in each set,” Youzhny said.
VIENNA OPEN
AP, VIENNA
Kevin Anderson of South Africa defeated last year’s finalist Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria 6-4, 6-4 on Monday in the opening round of the Vienna Open.
The sixth-seeded Anderson, who won his maiden career title in Johannesburg this season, relied on his serve and broke Haider-Maurer once in each set. He closed out the win with his 10th ace.
Anderson is scheduled to play Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who defeated the 73rd-ranked Ryan Sweeting 6-4, 6-2.
Baghdatis, who reached the final in Kuala Lumpur this month, had 10 aces and broke the American’s serve four times.
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