Top seed Tommy Haas beat Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 to join two other Germans in the Mercedes Cup quarter-finals on Thursday.
The 35-year-old Haas is the oldest player in the top 100 and is looking for his second title of the year.
Haas cruised through the first set, but Gulbis bounced back in the second. In the decider, Haas broke serve to win the match as Gulbis slammed a forehand into the net.
Haas will next play either Leonardo Mayer of Argentina or Fabio Fognini of Italy.
Fourth-seeded Benoit Paire of France also won his second-round match by beating Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 6-3, 6-1.
Paire’s quarter-final opponent will be Victor Hanescu of Romania, who beat Thomaz BELLUCCI OF BRAZIL 6-1, 6-4.
In other quarter-finals, Michael Berrer is to face Roberto Bautista Agut, while the second-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber is to meet Gael Monfils.
SWEDISH OPEN
AP, BASTAD, Sweden
Top seeds Tomas Berdych and Nicolas Almagro began the Swedish Open by reaching the quarter-finals on Thursday.
Almagro, a three-time finalist in Bastad, got off to a rough start against fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, but rallied to win 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.
His next opponent, Fernando Verdasco, also of Spain, beat Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets.
Berdych, the No. 1 seed in the clay-court tournament, easily defeated Argentine Martin Alund 6-3, 6-0. It was the Czech’s first match since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Next up for Berdych is Thiemo De Bakker, the Dutchman who survived two match points before eliminating Viktor Troicki of Serbia 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6).
HALL OF FAME
AP, NEWPORT, Rhode Island
The US’ Michael Russell advanced to the Hall of Fame Championships semi-finals by outlasting No. 3 seed Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/5) on Thursday.
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
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was