OPEN DE NICE
Bernard Tomic advances
Fifth-seeded Bernard Tomic beat Lukas Lacko 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday to reach the second round. The Australian broke Lacko’s serve twice in each set to set up a second-round match against Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, who eased past big-serving Sam Querrey 6-2, 7-5. Seventh-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan also advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (7/3), 1-6, 6-1 win over Alejandro Falla of Colombia and next plays Nikolay Davydenko after the Russian defeated Matthew Ebden of Australia 6-3, 6-3. Also, Xavier Malisse of Belgium beat Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 7-5, 6-4, Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria defeated Dudi Sela of Israel, 7-5, 6-1, and Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Benoit Paire 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) in an all-French match.
STRASBOURG
Schiavone beats Cadantu
Second-seeded Francesca Schiavone eased into the second round after beating Alexandra Cadantu of Romania 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday, while three other seeded players lost. The former French Open champion broke Cadantu’s serve six times and next plays qualifier Mirjana Lucic of Croatia, who rallied to beat Britain’s Anne Keothavong 2-6, 7-5, 6-4. Third-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia, No. 5 Mona Barthel of Germany and No. 6 Marina Erakovic of New Zealand all went out. Kirilenko retired at the start of the third set against Sloane Stephens of the US with the score 3-6, 7-5, Barthel lost 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) to Russia’s Alexandra Panova and Erakovic was thrashed 6-1, 6-3 by Japan’s Ayumi Morita. Lucie Hradecka, Virginie Razzano, Johanna Larsson and Timea Babos also advanced.
TEAM WORLD CUP
US drop two straight
The US fell to their second straight defeat at the event in Dusseldorf on Tuesday, while Serbia posted their second victory in two matches. The Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek both won their singles in straight sets against the US. Berdych fired 12 aces in defeating Andy Roddick 6-1, 6-2 and Stepanek routed James Blake 6-2, 6-1. Serbia also took an unassailable 2-0 lead over Russia. Viktor Troicki lost only seven points on serve as he raced to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Dmitry Tursunov. Janko Tipsarevic secured Serbia’s victory by defeating Alex Bogomolov Jr 6-1, 6-3. Russia fell to 0-2. Defending champions Germany made a winning start to their second Blue Group match as Florian Mayer dismissed Croatia’s Ivan Dodig 6-1, 6-1. Argentina took a 1-0 lead over Japan in a Red Group match when Leonardo Mayer defeated Japan’s Tatsuma Ito 6-4, 6-4.
FRENCH OPEN
Injured Nishikori pulls out
Kei Nishikori of Japan has pulled out of the upcoming tourney after failing to recover from an abdominal injury. The 18th-ranked Nishikori picked up the injury playing against Fernando Verdasco in the Barcelona Open quarter-finals last month and he has not played since. Organizers said on Tuesday that he would be replaced in the draw by Slovakia’s Karol Beck.
US OPEN
Clijsters done after tourney
Kim Clijsters says this year’s US Open will be her last tournament before retiring. The former No. 1 had already announced that this would be her final season and said on Tuesday that she means to quit after Flushing Meadows, where she is a three-time champion. Clijsters said at a news conference that “I will end my career at the US Open.” The Belgian star said Flushing Meadows “is where I enjoyed my greatest triumphs and it is a very special place for me.”
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