Fifth-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy reached his second quarter-finals of the young season when he beat James Ward of Britain 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 at the Zagreb Indoors on Thursday.
Seppi came back from 2-0 down to win the first set, then blew a 4-2 lead in the second. In the third, Seppi overcame another broken serve to prevail in 2 hours, 20 minutes.
His eighth win of the year followed a semi-final showing in Doha, and a fourth-round run at the Australian Open, including a win over Roger Federer.
Photo: AFP
Another enjoying a good start was third-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain, also into his second quarter-finals this year after defeating Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia 6-1, 6-1 in the second round.
Garcia-Lopez saved five break points, and lined up seventh-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who eased past Go Soeda of Japan 6-3, 6-1. Troicki won 96 percent of points on his first serve and never faced a break point.
Second-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France was upset by Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-1 in their first matchup.
Sijsling lost only three points on serve in the third set, and will appear in his first quarter-finals in 12 months.
Ivan Dodig, the last Croatian in the tournament after Marin Cilic withdrew and top-seeded Ivo Karlovic lost, was beaten by eighth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain 7-6 (10/8), 4-6, 6-3, marking the first time a Croatian has failed to make the last eight.
He squandered five set points in the opening set: One at 5-4, two at 6-5, and two more in the tiebreak.
Dodig lost serve only once in the match, at 3-4 in the third set, but it happened to be decisive.
“I remember when we played here four years ago and I lost easily. This time I played better than then,” Granollers said. “I feel sorry for the crowd, with no Croats left now in the draw, but Croats won so many titles here before.”
Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania came back from a set down, and 5-2 down in the second-set tiebreaker to upset fourth-seeded Gilles Muller from Luxembourg 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.
OPEN SUD DE FRANCE
Top-seeded Gael Monfils won a tight all-French encounter against Kenny De Schepper 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) to reach the quarter-finals of the Open Sud de France on Thursday.
One break of serve was enough for Monfils, who saved all three break points he faced.
Monfils will next take on qualifier Steve Darcis of Belgium, who defeated Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-2, 7-6 (7/3).
Third-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany hit 19 aces and saved 11 of the 13 break points he faced before rallying past Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in a second-round match that lasted more than two hours.
ECUADOR OPEN
Top-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain hit 10 aces in defeating Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia 7-5, 6-2 to reach the Ecuador Open quarter-finals on Thursday.
Lopez, coming off a fourth-round effort at the Australian Open, avenged a loss to Gonzalez in April last year in Houston.
The Quito event is the first in a month of ATP and WTA clay-court tournaments across Latin America. Quito is at 2,800m, a challenge for players unaccustomed to the thin air in the Andes.
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