Spain’s Nicolas Almagro got the perfect boost ahead of the French Open by ending the magical claycourt run of US qualifier Brian Baker 6-3, 6-2 to successfully defend his Nice Open title yesterday.
It was Almagro’s second tournament win of the year and the 12th of his career.
Baker, 27, was playing in his first ATP final after being sidelined for almost six years having undergone five surgeries (three hip, one elbow, one hernia) before returning to tennis in July last year at the Pittsburgh Futures.
Baker should rise to about 140 in the world from his current 216.
“It was a great week. Every time you go onto court, you want to win. I am a competitor, I hate losing,” Baker said.
“But it has been an unbelievable week. I hoped to qualify at the start of the week and win a match or two, before going to Roland Garros. Obviously, I did much better than that. I think even in the qualifying, I felt as if I was playing pretty well,” Baker said. “I won my three matches easily and knew I was playing good tennis.”
Almagro added: “Baker lost the final today, but he is back, he is playing very good. I think if he plays as he did this week, then he will win many, many tournaments.”
The Spaniard is seeded 12th for Roland Garros, which started yesterday. He opens against Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi.
Baker will play the French Open on a wildcard and takes on Belgium’s Xavier Malisse in the first round.
WORLD TEAM CUP
AP, DUESSELDORF, GERMANY
Serbia defeated the Czech Republic 3-0 on Saturday to win the World Team Cup for the second time.
Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki, who were both part of Serbia’s winning team in 2009, both won their singles matches to give their country an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match tournament at the Rochus Club.
The No. 8-ranked Tipsarevic pulled ahead first after defeating the No. 7-ranked Tomas Berdych 7-5, 7-6 (8).
“The match could have gone either way,” Tipsarevic said. “I was a little bit lucky.”
Troicki had a poor start against Radek Stepanek and lost the first. The Serb regrouped in the second to wrap up the match in two hours.
In the doubles match, that had no effect on the overall result, Tipsarevic teamed up with Nenad Zimonjic to complete Serbia’s dominance with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Berdych and Frantisek Cermak.
STRASBOURG
AFP, STRASBOURG, FRANCE
Italian second seed Francesca Schiavone won her fifth WTA title and first since the 2010 French Open when she captured the Strasbourg claycourt tournament with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Alize Cornet.
It was the Italian veteran’s eighth win in nine career meetings against the 66th-ranked French player.
“It’s a great feeling and I want to keep going this way. I’m happy again. I’m feeling the sensation of fighting and feeling the pain, and enjoying my game again,” Schiavone said.
Cornet added: “Right now I’m disappointed, but Francesca was playing well the whole week, not even losing a set. My tennis is improving and coming back. It was only positives for me this week, and now I hope to have a good Roland Garros.”
Schiavone will be seeded 14 at the French Open, which starts in Paris on Sunday, and meets Japanese veteran Kimiko Date Krumm in the first round.
Cornet faces Chinese 31st seed Zheng Jie in her first-round tie.
BELGIAN OPEN
AP, BRUSSELS
Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat Simona Halep of Romania 7-5, 6-0 to win the Belgian Open.
The third-ranked Radwanska had a tough opponent in Halep through much of the first set. The Romanian even served for the first set before she crumbled under pressure, losing the last nine games.
It was Radwanska’s third victory of the season after she won titles in Dubai and Miami.
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