Croatians Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig both made winning starts to the Rotterdam World Tennis Tournament on Monday.
Second seed Cilic, a 2014 finalist at the Ahoy Stadium, left Denis Istomin without a win at the event for a third straight year, posting a 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 victory.
Cilic spent just over 90 minutes firing 10 aces and breaking once from seven chances against the Uzbek coached by his mother. The seed never faced a break point.
Photo: EPA
“It was a tough mental challenge,” the world No. 13 said. “The first set was very close and the second was a mental battle. I was lucky to pull it through.”
Dodig, the world No. 87, was coming off a first-round loss to a wild card at the Australian Open, but the Croatian whipped his game into shape during Rotterdam weekend qualifying and put his form to good use with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) defeat of seventh seed Benoit Paire.
Paire committed more than 50 unforced errors in what was a frustrating effort.
Jiri Vesely won an all-Czech battle in the first round as he defeated Lukas Rosol 6-4, 6-2.
MEMPHIS OPEN
AP, MEMPHIS, Tennessee
Fifth seed Denis Kudla moved into the second round of the Memphis Open with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Rajeev Ram on Monday.
Kudla, seeded in an ATP World Tour event for the first time, broke Ram’s serve to open the second set. The 23-year-old American finished with five aces and did not face a break point.
In a battle of qualifiers, Yoshihito Nishioka beat Jared Donaldson of the US 6-3, 6-4.
Also advancing into the second round were Mikhail Kukushkin, a 6-4, 7-6 (7/1) winner over Luca Vanni of Italy, and Ilya Marchenko, who defeated sixth seed Sam Groth of Australia 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/2).
ARGENTINA OPEN
AP, BUENOS AIRES
Nicolas Almagro of Spain advanced to the second round of the Argentina Open after defeating fellow countryman Albert Montanes 6-3, 6-3.
In another first-round match on Monday between unseeded players, Santiago Giraldo of Colombia defeated Inigo Cervantes of Spain 6-1, 7-5.
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