Top-seeded Steve Johnson was upset in the quarter-finals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships on Friday, losing to fellow American and No. 8-seeded Donald Young 6-2, 6-3.
In other quarter-finals play, second-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia reached his third consecutive semi-final on Newport’s grass courts, beating Switzerland’s Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 6-4. Karlovic lost in the final the past two years.
Third-seeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg rallied past France’s Adrian Mannarino, the No. 6 seed, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.
The semis were to be played on center court after enshrinement ceremonies for this year’s class into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Marat Safin and Justine Henin head this year’s class.
GERMAN OPEN
AP, HAMBURG, Germany
Renzo Olivo saved two match points and went on to stun top-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber at the German Open quarter-finals on Friday.
Olivo rallied to win 1-6, 6-0, 7-5, saving two match points in the ninth game of the final set as Kohlschreiber was serving for the match at 5-3.
In Olivo’s first career semi-final, he faces the in-form Cuevas, who won consecutive titles in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in February.
Third-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (9/7), 6-1 in a repeat of the 2009 semi-final won by Mathieu. Cuevas fired 12 aces and won 79 percent of his service points to beat Mathieu.
Stephane Robert of France beat eighth-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 6-3. His semi-final opponent is seventh-seeded Martin Klizan of Slovakia, who beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 6-4, 6-3.
SWEDISH OPEN
AP, BASTAD, Sweden
Third-seeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas reached his second semi-final of the year and prevented Andrea Arnaboldi from his first career semi in a 5-7, 7-5, 6-0 win at the Swedish Open on Friday.
The Spaniard, still seeking his first ATP title, faces countryman and top seed David Ferrer, who beat Dustin Brown of Germany 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
Another Spaniard, fifth-seeded Fernando Verdasco, eased past Facundo Bagnis of Argentina 6-2, 6-1, and was to play either second-seeded Joao Sousa or another Portuguese, Gastao Elias.
“I’m feeling pretty good. I’ve been playing better and better every day,” Verdasco said.
“Tomorrow [yesterday] I will have a Portuguese player and they are both playing good this week,” he said.
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