TENNIS
Williams through in Miami
Fifteen-year-old Californian CiCi Bellis lasted only 41 minutes against compatriot and world No. 1 Serena Williams, losing 6-1, 6-1 in the third round at the Miami Open. Williams advanced to Monday’s round of 16 against 2006 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded No. 24. She eliminated No. 13 Angelique Kerber 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. While Williams moved a step closer to her eighth Key Biscayne title, Rafael Nadal again came up short. He was eliminated by fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. Four-time champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia and two-time champion Andy Murray of the UK are now heavy favorites to make the final. Murray, seeded No. 3, reached the fourth round by beating Santiago Giraldo of Columbia 6-3, 6-4, while Djokovic defeated Martin Kilzan of Slovakia 6-0, 5-7, 6-1. Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus lost to No. 15 Flavia Pennetta of Italy 7-6(5), 7-6(6). Azarenka, mounting a comeback from injuries, was playing at Key Biscayne for the first time since 2012. World No. 3 Simona Halep of Romania, who recently won at Indian Wells, reached the women’s fourth round by beating No. 30 Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-4, 7-5.
GOLF
Woods exits top-100 list
For the first time since 1996, Tiger Woods is not among the top 100 golfers in the world rankings. Woods, who has not played since he withdrew from the Farmers Insurance Open on Feb. 6, fell to No. 104 this week. The last time he was out of the top 100 was on Sept. 29, 1996, when he was at No. 225. The following week, Woods won the Las Vegas Invitational as a 20-year-old for the first of his 79 PGA Tour victories. It is not clear when Woods will return. He said in February that his scores were not acceptable and he would not play until his game was in tournament shape. Woods is not required to announce if he is playing the US Masters until the tournament starts on April 9.
CYCLING
Tinkoff-Saxo sack manager
Team Tinkoff-Saxo have terminated the contract of manager Bjarne Riis with immediate effect. The Russian-owned cycling team, which is based in Denmark, issued a statement on Sunday saying they have “reached a mutual agreement” with Riis. Tinkoff-Saxo said they will unveil early next week the new sporting structure of the team that Riis created after ending his career as a professional cyclist in 2000. Riis, who admitted that he had used blood-booster EPO to win the Tour de France in 1996, sold the team to Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov in December 2013. Riis and Tinkov had been at odds in recent weeks, with the latter reportedly unhappy with the team’s recent results. The Tinkoff-Saxo outfit includes two-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador and Slovak sprinter Peter Sagan.
RUGBY UNION
London Welsh relegated
With 18 straight defeats and just one point, London Welsh’s relegation from English rugby’s top flight was confirmed on Sunday, as the team remained on course to finish with the lowest points total in the division’s 28-year history. A 29-14 loss to Bath ensured London Welsh’s return to the second tier with four rounds still to play in the English Premiership. Bedford and Rotherham (both three) hold the record for fewest points in a Premiership season. London Welsh’s only point so far came from running in four tries for an attacking bonus point against Bath in September last year. London Welsh have conceded an average of more than 46 points in their 18 games.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier