TENNIS
Nadal defeats Lorenzi
Second-seeded Rafael Nadal remained perfect in matches at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, Mexico, by easing past Italian Paolo Lorenzi 6-1, 6-1 in their second-round match on Wednesday. Nadal improved his record to 12-0 at the event, needing only 66 minutes to get past Lorenzi, who defeated Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun in the first round. Nadal broke Lorenzi’s serve five times and lost only five points on his serve, never facing a break point. Nadal’s opponent in the quarter-finals is Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, who eliminated Australian Jordan Thompson 6-4, 3-6, 6-0. Top-seeded Novak Djokovic faced a strong challenge from Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro, but the Serb emerged with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory. Next up for Djokovic is a quarter-final against sixth-seeded Nick Kyrgios of Australia, who defeated Donald Young of the US 6-2, 6-4. “I played really well today,” Kyrgios said. “I’m really enjoying my time here.” American Sam Querrey recorded the biggest upset of the day, eliminating fifth-seeded David Goffin of Belgium 6-2, 6-3 in 69 minutes. Querrey lost only four points on his first serve. Fourth seeds Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan and Christina McHale of the US defeated Mexican duo Giuliana Olmos and Renata Zarazua 6-7, (2/7), 6-4, 10-8 in the first round of the women’s doubles.
ICE HOCKEY
Kane scores hat-trick
Patrick Kane had his second hat-trick in three games, while Scott Darling made 36 saves as the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 on Wednesday night for their fifth straight victory and 10th in 11 games. Richard Panik also scored to help Chicago pull within three points of first-placed Minnesota in the Central Division and Western Conference. Kane, last season’s MVP, has a team-leading 27 goals — scoring 12 times and adding seven assists in his past 11 games. Scott Wilson scored for Pittsburgh as the Penguins fell short again after a 3-2 loss in Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday night.
RUGBY UNION
Force defeat Queensland
The Western Force defeated the Queensland Reds 26-19 yesterday, with Fijian wing Eto Nabuli scoring a hat-trick of tries in a losing cause. The Force picked up their first win of the Super Rugby season in Perth, Australia, extending the Reds’ winless run away from home to nine games.
CRICKET
Guptill misses Test spot
Martin Guptill will not be included in the New Zealand squad for the upcoming Test series against South Africa, despite a brilliant matchwinning innings in the fourth one-day international against the Proteas on Wednesday. Guptill scored 180 not out in the seven-wicket victory over the tourists in Hamilton, but coach Mike Hesson said the 30-year-old would not be considered for the longer format. “The Test team is performing pretty well at the moment,” Hesson said yesterday. “Martin and I have talked about Test cricket a lot and we certainly gave batting at the top of the order a decent crack. Certainly batting in the middle order is something we are keen to explore and he will do that first with Auckland.”
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but