Czech Jiri Vesely’s hopes of defending his Auckland Classic title disappeared in the first round yesterday when he was bundled out in straight sets by eighth-seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain.
On a rain-disrupted second day that saw no matches completed during the day session, Bautista Agut made up time in the evening by taking just 1 hour, 16 minutes to dispose of Vesely 6-3, 7-5.
Former tournament champion Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany had the worst of the rain disruptions, though he managed to turn it to his advantage. He was trailing compatriot Benjamin Becker 0-30 in the first game when the rain sent the players off the court and they did not resume until nearly six hours later when Kohlschreiber claimed a 7-6 (10/8), 6-3 victory.
Kohlschreiber, who was also a finalist in Auckland in 2013, believes the match has set him up nicely for his second-round clash against No. 2 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.
“I have one more match under my belt and it is always good to play the big guys in the early rounds, because when they build up their confidence, they are very tough to beat, especially strong players with an aggressive game,” Kohlschreiber said.
American Sam Querrey advanced to the second round when Britain’s Aljaz Bedene retired with an injury early in the deciding third set. Bedene had taken the first set on a tiebreak 7-6 (7/5), but Querrey came back to win the second-set tiebreak 7-6 (12/10) and was 2-1 up in the third when the London-based Bedene pulled out.
In yesterday’s other games, Fabio Fognini of Italy defeated Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7/3), Michael Venus of New Zealand lost to Benoit Paire of France 4-6, 6-7 (4/7) and Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.
The four tournament drawcards — Spain’s David Ferrer, who is chasing a fifth title, Tsonga, John Isner of the US and Kevin Anderson of South Africa — all had first-round byes and are to make opening appearances today.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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