Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic reached her sixth semi-final of the season by defeating Madison Brengle of the US 6-4, 6-4 at the Generali Ladies on Friday.
The seventh-seeded Pliskova, who is ranked 30th, is next to play Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany, while Camila Giorgi takes on Karin Knapp in an all-Italian semi-final.
Pliskova played four finals this year and won one of them — in Seoul last month. It was the first quarter-final for the 96th-ranked Brengle, who had a bye in the second round after Ana Ivanovic pulled out injured.
Pliskova converted her only break-point at 5-4 to take the opening set and came back from a break down twice to win the second.
Earlier, Friedsam rallied to defeat Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to advance to her first career semi-final.
The 94th-ranked Friedsam, who won three qualifying matches and beat the third-seeded Dominika Cibulkova in the first round, came back from a break down in the third set and served two aces in the final game.
Giorgi defeated Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 6-3, 7-5. The 42nd-ranked Italian dominated the opening set and recovered from losing three straight games early in the second to reach her third semi-final of the season.
The 59th-ranked Knapp defeated Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to reach her first semi-final since winning her maiden title in Tashkent last month.
Knapp overcame eight double-faults against the 44th-ranked Pironkova, who had beaten the Italian in straight sets at the US Open.
Knapp failed to serve out the match at 5-3 and missed five match points in the next game before closing out the win.
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