ATP WORLD TOUR
After his eight-year winning run in Monte Carlo was ended by Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal is quickly refocusing on winning an eighth title at the Barcelona Open.
Going into another clay-court tournament that Nadal has dominated, the Spaniard said he still needs to improve following a lengthy injury layoff before he is able to beat the likes of Djokovic in a final.
Photo: EPA
“When you make it to the final in Monte Carlo you cannot think that you had a bad week,” Nadal said on Monday. “Now I’m in Barcelona and I want to enjoy it. I love playing here.”
“Against the world No. 1 you can win or lose, and this time I lost,” he said.
Nadal has reached five consecutive finals since returning in February from a knee injury — winning three and losing two. This time, he will not be the top-seeded player at Real Club de Tenis Barcelona. That honor goes to compatriot David Ferrer.
“I think I’m on the right track, but missing things after all that happened,” said Nadal, who opens against either Carlos Berlocq or Daniel Gimeno-Traver today. “They are both good players on clay.”
In first-round play on Monday, Ivan Dodig saved five of seven break points in beating Aljaz Bedene 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-2.
Andrey Kuznetsov took only 46 minutes to beat Igor Sijsling 6-1, 6-3, while Paolo Lorenzi defeated Guillaume Rufin 6-4, 6-2 after winning 80 percent of points on first serve. Ernests Gulbis topped Radek Stepanek 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.
NASTASE TIRIAC TROPHY
AP, BUCHAREST
Viktor Troicki advanced to the second round of the Nastase Tiriac Trophy by beating Marinko Matosevic of Australia 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 on Monday.
The eighth-seeded Serb broke once in each set and served eight aces, while Matosevic failed to convert any of his three breakpoint chances.
David Goffin defeated Romanian wild-card Adrian Ungur 6-3, 6-1 in 55 minutes. The Belgian could next face 2011 champion Florian Mayer.
Also in the first round, Germany’s Daniel Brands downed Tatsuma Ito of Japan 6-3, 3-6, 4-2.
In the final round of qualifying, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Matthias Bachinger, Flavio Cipolla and Jaroslav Pospisil won to advance to the main draw.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite