■TENNIS
Autograph causes injury
Signing autographs is usually the easy part after a match but French Open quarter-finalist Fernando Gonzalez’s twisted ankle told a different story. Rather than boasting of a spectacular shot he had made to cause it, the Chilean admitted the injury that interrupted his Roland Garros preparations had come about in a bizarre manner. “I was signing autographs after one of the matches in Rome [last month]. They called me from the other side of the court, and I went running and twisted my ankle,” he told reporters after beating Victor Hanescu in the fourth round on Sunday. “I went back to the locker room because it was really painful. That’s how it happened. It was curious. Let’s call it curious.”
■MOTO GP
Stoner wins in Italy
Casey Stoner won the Italian Moto Grand Prix on Sunday to move to the top of the championship standings and break Valentino Rossi’s seven-year stranglehold on the race. The Australian judged the wet and dry conditions better than his opponents to finish in 45 minutes, 41.894 seconds. He was a second faster than Jorge Lorenzo, who led the overall standings ahead of the event. Defending world champion Valentino Rossi finished third after winning the race the last seven years in a row. Rossi had a poor qualifying session on Saturday and started from fourth. Stoner leads the standings with 90 points, four more than Lorenzo. Rossi is third with 81 points.
■INDY CAR RACING
Dixon wins AJ Foyt 225
New Zealand’s reigning IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon won the AJ Foyt 225 on Sunday to take over the lead in this year’s standings. Dixon overtook Australian Penske driver Ryan Briscoe for the lead 25 laps from the finish and pulled away for his second victory of the season. Briscoe, who started from pole position, settled for second place behind Dixon and ahead of Scotland’s Dario Franchitti. With the victory Dixon took over the series lead from Ganassi teammate Franchitti. “What a long race. I’m just so happy to win at this place,” Dixon said. Graham Rahal and Danica Patrick rounded out the top five, both on the same lap as Dixon. Patrick’s finish was her fourth straight top-five of the year. After the last round of pit stops, Briscoe led Dixon, Franchitti, Rahal, and Raphael Matos to the restart on lap 172. But Briscoe got stuck behind a slow Tomas Scheckter, who was a lap back. Dixon took advantage of the backmarker traffic to make his move past Briscoe for his 18th career IndyCar win. Brazilian Helio Castroneves, who claimed his third Indianapolis 500 triumph last Sunday, started from the rear of the grid after a qualifying crash and finished in 11th place.
■SOCCER
Perez returns as president
Florentino Perez was returned as president of Real Madrid yesterday with no other candidates standing against him by the deadline for applications of midnight on Sunday. The three challengers who had been expected to oppose the construction magnate all pulled out and Perez took office yesterday in a ceremony at the Bernabeu Stadium. Architect of the “Galacticos” policy that brought the likes of Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham to the Bernabeu, Perez has promised to construct a spectacular sporting project but has yet to name any players or the coach he plans to bring in. Spanish media have reported that Villarreal’s Manuel Pellegrini is the front runner for the coach’s role and Perez has been linked with players including Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Franck Ribery.
SEESAW CONTEST: The Pistons remain top of the Eastern Conference after battling to a win over the Hawks in a game that saw the lead change 27 times The Phoenix Suns on Monday shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road. Booker exited in the first quarter, but the loss of the star point guard did little to halt the flow of Phoenix points over the remainder of the game. Dillon Brooks led the Phoenix scoring with 33 points, while Collin Gillespie added 28 — including eight three-pointers — as the Suns romped to victory. The Lakers were left ruing a colossal 22 turnovers — at a cost of 32 Suns points — on a
New Zealand yesterday reached 231-9 at stumps on a first day of the first Test against the West Indies shortened by rain after Justin Greaves triggered a middle-order collapse with the wicket of Kane Williamson. New Zealand tumbled from 94-1 to 148-6 on a bowler-friendly wicket after Williamson was dismissed for 52, his 38th Test half-century. Michael Bracewell and Nathan Smith arrested the slide with a 52-run stand for the seventh wicket. Smith eventually fell for 23 and Bracewell for 47. After Matt Henry went for 8, Zak Foulkes and Jacob Duffy were both on 4 when bad light stopped play after 70
Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday scored twice and had an assist as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to end a three-match winless streak in La Liga. Eduardo Camavinga also found the net for Madrid as they moved back within one point of Barcelona, who beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 on Tuesday. Both 19th-round matches were moved forward because Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Club and Atletico Madrid are to play in the Supercopa de Espana semi-finals in Saudi Arabia next month. Real Madrid were coming off league draws against Girona, Elche and Rayo Vallecano. It was their second win in their past six matches in
IN-HOUSE BUSINESS: LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said that the reason for the team’s poor form was not due to Paul, but the player was not a good fit for them Chris Paul’s return stint with the Los Angeles Clippers has come to an abrupt and stunning end, with the franchise parting ways with one of its greatest players in a late-night meeting on Wednesday that adds another layer of drama to the team’s terrible start this season. The news was delivered in a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, that ended at about 2am, Clippers basketball operations president Lawrence Frank said. Frank said he made the decision to sever ties with Paul on Sunday then told the franchise’s career assist leader that he needed to see him on Tuesday in Atlanta. Frank did not confirm
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