Second-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania advanced to the second round of the Rio Open on Monday, defeating Olivia Rogowska of Australia 6-1, 6-3 in the outdoor clay event.
Another seeded player, No. 5 Johanna Larsson of Sweden, also advanced in the joint WTA-ATP event. She defeated Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor when the Spanish player retired with an injury with Larsson leading 6-7 (5/7), 7-6(7/3), 4-2.
No. 4 Madison Brengle of the US also advanced after Ana Bogdan of Romania retired while trailing 6-4, 3-3.
However, No. 8 Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa was beaten by American Grace Min 6-2, 6-1.
Two non-seeded women advanced: Lourder Dominguez Lino of Spain and Gabriela Ce of Brazil.
On the men’s side in the combined ATP-WTA event, No. 3 Tommy Robredo of Spain defeated Elias Ymer of Sweden 6-4, 6-3.
Robredo has won 12 ATP singles titles, but none since 2013. He reached three finals last year, and lost all of them.
In two men’s matches, Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland ousted qualifier Marco Cecchinato of Italy 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Top-seeded Sara Errani of Italy was to play yesterday. For the men top-seeded Rafael Nadal also was to play, as was fellow Spaniard and No. 2 David Ferrer. Nadal was to face Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil and Ferrer was to face fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver.
Nadal, Ferrer and former Brazil star Gustavo Kuerten participated on Sunday in a downpour in Rio’s famous Carnival parades at the famous Sambadrome.
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