Eugenie Bouchard on Sunday took another step in her comeback on the WTA Tour by battling to a 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Latvian qualifier Anastasija Sevastova in the first round of the Qatar Open.
The 22-year-old Canadian, who reached as high as No. 5 in the rankings in October 2014, the year she made the final of Wimbledon before losing to Petra Kvitova, is now ranked 61st on the WTA Tour.
Bouchard is making a comeback this year after suffering a concussion at the US Open last year, when she slipped and fell in the locker room and subsequently pulled out of the tournament.
Bouchard, who is now involved in a legal battle with the US Tennis Association following the incident, is to meet either 15th-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine or Czech player Denisa Allertova in the next round.
The Canadian, who accepted a wild card for the tournament, finally won her match after 2 hours, 28 minutes. She saved nine break points.
“I haven’t played a match for some time, so I am glad to get a good, tough outing in the first round,” said Bouchard, whose last match was a second-round loss to Agnieszka Radwanska at the Australian Open.
The top eight seeded players, including world No. 2 and Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber of Germany, have a bye to the second round.
Karolina Pliskova, seeded 10th, lost rather tamely to Russia’s Margarita Gasparyan 6-1, 6-1 after struggling to get her first serves in during the whole match.
Germany’s Andrea Petkovic, a former top-10 player now ranked 28th, continued her domination of Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova, beating her 6-3, 6-2 in the last match of the day. She is now 4-0 overall against the Russian player.
Croatia’s Donna Vekic brushed aside Omani wild-card Fatma al-Nabhani, winning 6-0, 6-0 in 50 minutes.
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