Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain rallied to beat Russian wild-card Evgeny Donskoy 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Monday in the first round of the St Petersburg Open.
The seventh-seeded Spaniard struggled with his serve early, dropping the first set and trailing 3-1 in the second, but his form picked up and he broke the 121st-ranked Donskoy twice to even the match at one set apiece.
Garcia Lopez broke decisively in the fourth game of the third set and finished the match by serving out to love.
In other first-round action, Italy’s Flavio Cipolla advanced with a 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (8/6) win over qualifier Andrei Vasilevski of Belarus and Rajeev Ram of the US beat Matthias Bachinger of Germany 6-4, 6-4.
Ram broke Bachinger early in the first set, but fell 4-1 down in the second before winning five consecutive games.
Mikhail Youzhny, the 2004 champion and two-time runner-up, is the top-seeded player in the 18th edition of the tournament.
MOSELLE OPEN
AP, METZ, France
Veteran James Blake of the US beat French wild-card Albano Olivetti 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) on Monday, despite being aced 19 times in the first round of the Moselle Open.
Blake won 86 percent of his points on first serve and broke Olivetti three times.
He next faces fourth-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany, who he has defeated in all three of their matches.
The American lost his first six matches of the ATP World Tour season, but has improved to 8-12 overall.
The 20-year-old Olivetti, ranked 213th, was playing in only his fourth match on the ATP World Tour.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and