Fifth-seeded Andreas Seppi defeated Robin Haase 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to reach the second round of the Zagreb Indoors on Tuesday.
Seppi, who beat Roger Federer in the third round of the Australian Open last month, converted three out of six break points and won all 12 points on his first serve in the deciding set.
The Italian played solidly from the baseline and returned aggressively, pushing Haase to the limit in his service games in the third set.
Earlier, Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny came from a break down in the final set to beat Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.
Sixth-seeded Youzhny, the 2012 singles and doubles champion in Zagreb, was 4-3 down facing Kavcic on serve before rallying for his first singles victory this year. He lost in the opening rounds in Doha and the Australian Open.
“It was up and down for me, I made too many mistakes in the second set, but finally found the way,” said Youzhny, who won his last match in Moscow in October last year.
Serbia’s Viktor Troicki, seeded seventh, came through a tough encounter with Ukrainian qualifier Ilya Marchenko, winning 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3). A semi-finalist in Zagreb in 2009, Troicki wasted a match point at 5-4.
“It happens sometimes,” he said. “I even served very solid in that game, but he responded with some great returns.”
Another former Zagreb champion, Marcos Baghdatis, needed three sets to overcome Croatian wild-card Toni Androic, who was playing his first ATP World Tour match. The 2007 champion won 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3, but was not pleased with the level of his tennis.
“I did not play very well, I am very tired. I gave a lot mentally in Australia, and I don’t know if it was good decision to come here, but I will try to do my best,” said Baghdatis, who lost to Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in the third round of the Australian Open.
Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Japan’s Go Soeda also advanced.
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
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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