CLARO OPEN
Tomic makes winning debut
Australia’s Bernard Tomic made a winning debut in Bogota on Monday, defeating Uzbekistan’s Farrukh Dustov 6-3, 6-3. Tomic fired 10 aces and dropped only nine points on serve, while converting three of his four break-point chances. Alex Kuznetsov of the US set up a second-round meeting with third seed Vasek Pospisil after beating Adrian Mannarino of France 6-4, 7-6 (7/3). Argentine Guido Pella beat Colombian wild card Eduardo Struvay 6-3, 6-4 in 63 minutes and is next to play fourth seed Radek Stepanek. In the lone doubles match, Thai duo Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana rallied to defeat Taiwan’s Jimmy Wang and Dudi Sela of Israel 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 10-8. Wang was due to face Poland’s Michal Przysiezny in the first round of the singles yesterday.
BET-AT-HOME OPEN
Title calling for German
Home favorite Philipp Kohlschreiber faces Gastao Elias in the Hamburg Bet-At-Home Open second round after the Portuguese qualifier defeated Spain’s Albert Montanes 6-4, 6-3 on Monday. Seventh-seeded Kohlschreiber, who is looking for his second title on home soil this season after winning in Dusseldorf, received a first-round bye at the clay-court event. Serbian qualifier Filip Krajinovic rallied to defeat Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 and set up a second-round clash with defending champion Fabio Fognini. Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan eased past Turkish qualifier Marsel Ilhan 6-2, 6-2 for a meeting with top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain. German wild card Tobias Kamke defeated Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, while Dustin Brown beat Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6 (7/5), 6-3. Brown is next to next face the ninth-seeded Fernando Verdasco, while Kamke is to play Argentina’s Federico Delbonis. Benoit Paire defeated Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/4). The Frenchman is next to face 11th-seeded Santiago Giraldo of Colombia. Austria’s Dominic Thiem defeated Czech player Jiri Vesely 7-5, 6-0 for a second-round match with Spain’s eighth-seeded Marcel Granollers, while Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic beat Frenchman Kenny De Schepper 6-3, 6-2 to meet Carlos Berlocq of Argentina.
SWEDISH OPEN
Early exit for second seed
Grace Min of the US upset second-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round of the Swedish Open on Monday in Bastad. The 20-year-old Min, who reached her first WTA semi-final in Bad Gastein last week, beat the 23rd-ranked Russian 6-0, 6-4 after trailing 4-2 in the second set. Jana Cepelova from Slovakia defeated Swedish wild card Rebecca Peterson 6-4, 6-4, while Irina-Camelia Begu from Romania retired at 4-2 down in the second after losing the opener 6-4 to Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena. Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa also made it through after beating Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia, 6-3, 6-4.
ISTANBUL CUP
Tight matches in first round
Klara Koukalova survived a first-round scare at the Istanbul Cup to defeat Donna Vekic of Croatia in three sets, winning 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 on Monday. The third-seeded Czech was joined in the second round at the 64-court Koza World of Sport Complex by fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine, who beat Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Seventh-seeded Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia defeated Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium 1-6, 6-4, 7-5. Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark was to play Swiss Belinda Bencic yesterday.
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