TENNIS
Hamburg sees upsets
Benoit Paire rallied to upset second-seeded Tommy Robredo 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 and advance to the quarter-finals of the Hamburg Open in Germany on Wednesday. Third-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut made an early exit as well, losing 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (9/7) to Aljaz Bedene. Bedene will next play eighth-seeded Fabio Fognini, who needed three sets to overcome Albert Ramos-Vinolas, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. In another upset, sixth-seeded and 2012 Hamburg winner Juan Monaco went out against qualifier Lucas Pouille, 6-1, 7-5. Pouille will next meet Paire. Fifth-seeded Pablo Cuevas edged Diego Schwartzman 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in a first-round match and Jiri Vesely completed a 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 win over Andreas Haider-Mauer in a match that had been halted by rain a day earlier. Vesely is to play top-seeded Rafael Nadal in the second round.
TENNIS
Andujar advances in Gstaad
Defending champion Pablo Andujar of Spain advanced to the Swiss Open quarter-finals by beating Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 7-5, 6-2 on Wednesday in Gstaad. Fourth-seeded Andujar next faces another former champion on the Gstaad clay courts, two-time winner Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil. Bellucci beat Stephane Robert of France 6-3, 6-2 in their second-round match in the high-end ski resort. Seeded players advanced in all four matches on a rain-affected day. Second-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain rallied to win his first singles match since getting married last week. The 18th-ranked Lopez dropped the first set to 759th-ranked German qualifier Julian Reister in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory. Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, the eighth seed, eased past Marsel Ilhan of Turkey, 6-2, 6-3.
RUGBY UNION
Fiji, Samoa set up final
Samoa are to face Fiji in the final of the Pacific Nations Cup after both pulled off narrow victories on Wednesday; Samoa scoring a last-second try to edge Canada 21-20 and Fiji holding out Japan 27-22. Both teams finished unbeaten in the round-robin stage, during which they played out a 30-30 draw. Canada seemed to have snatched victory over Samoa in Burnaby, British Colombia, when Phil McKenzie scored in the 75th minute to give the hosts a 20-16 lead. However, an error at a lineout on the goal-line in the final seconds resulted in a try to Sakaria Taulafo, completing a comeback from Samoa, who trailed 13-3 at halftime. Earlier, 13-man Fiji held out under concerted late pressure from Japan to gain their third win of the tournament.
ICE HOCKEY
Zubrus put on waivers
New Jersey Devils forward Dainius Zubrus was placed on unconditional waivers by the team on Wednesday with the intention of ending his contract. The 37-year-old Zubrus played for the Devils the past eight seasons and was slated to earn US$3.1 million this season in the final year of a three-year, US$9.3 million deal. The Lithuanian had 10 points in 74 games last season. He was drafted by Philadelphia in 1996 in the first round, 15th overall. He played three seasons for the Flyers and competed for Montreal, Washington and Buffalo before joining the Devils in 2007.
ICE HOCKEY
Coyotes sign Treutle
The Arizona Coyotes signed German goalie Niklas Treutle to a one-year, entry-level contract on Wednesday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The 24-year-old Treutle was 20-10-0 with a .923 save percentage and 2.06 goals-against average last season in 30 games for Munich in the German league.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was