Tomas Berdych helped the Czech Republic rally for a 2-1 victory over Japan at the Team World Cup on Monday.
Japan had a taken a 1-0 lead on Sunday, but Berdych beat Go Soeda 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 and Frantisek Cermak and Radek Stepanek then prevailed in the decisive doubles in the Red Group tie, beating Tatsuma Ito and Soeda 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).
In the Blue Group, defending champions Germany completed a 3-0 victory over Russia.
Photo: EPA
Florian Mayer defeated Igor Andreev 6-2, 7-6 (9/7) and joined up with Christopher Kas to overcome Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 3-6 (10/8).
Serbia also won, with Janko Tipsarevic dismissing Lovro Zovko 6-0, 6-0 for a 2-0 lead over Croatia.
STRASBOURG
AP, STRASBOURG, FRANCE
Tamira Paszek overcame a second-set blip to beat Alberta Brianti of Italy 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 in the first round of the Strasbourg International on Monday.
The eighth-seeded Austrian constantly pressured Brianti’s serve, but could only convert four of her 15 breakpoint chances and dropped her own serve five times.
French pair Pauline Parmentier and Stephanie Foretz Gacon advanced in straight sets and next play each other.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei rallied to beat Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-1.
Parmentier beat Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-4, 6-4, while Foretz Gacon downed Britain’s Elena Baltacha 6-4, 6-0.
OPEN DE NICE
AP, NICE, FRANCE
Heavy rain washed out all play at the Open de Nice clay-court tournament on Monday.
On Sunday, only one match was started and it was later stopped in the second set with Belgium’s Xavier Malisse leading 7-5, 1-0 against Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun.
FRENCH OPEN
AP, PARIS
Tenth-ranked Mardy Fish and women’s No. 16 Andrea Petkovic pulled out of the French Open on Monday.
Fish has not played a match for more than a month and organizers said the big-serving American has fatigue, while Petkovic of Germany has a right-ankle injury.
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