Sixth-seeded Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine defeated Karolina Sprem of Croatia 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the first round of the US$220,000 GDF Suez Grand Prix on Monday.
Bondarenko broke Sprem’s serve at 1-1 in the first set and later jumped out to a 4-2 lead but the Croatian came back to win four games in a row to take the set.
Sprem, a semi-finalist at this tournament last year, took a 3-1 lead in the second set but this time it was Bondarenko who won four consecutive games to even up the match.
Sprem began the decisive set by winning her own service game but that was as far as she got, as Bondarenko won six straight games to win the match, her first WTA win over Sprem after losses in 2001 and 2006.
Maria Elena Camerin of Italy also scored her first defeat over Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.
■HALL OF FAME
AP, NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND
Prakash Amritraj and Taylor Dent won their opening matches at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships on Monday.
India’s Amritraj, the runner-up last year, beat Danai Udomchoke of Thailand, 6-1, 6-4 and Dent, the 2002 Newport champion, defeated Marcos Daniel of Brazil, 6-2, 6-1.
In other first-round action, Brendan Evans of the US ousted No. 4-seeded Benjamin Becker 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-5, when the German double-faulted on the final point. Jesse Levine beat Australia’s Chris Guccione, 7-6 (2) 7-6 (2); Daniel Brands of Germany beat Vince Spadea 6-0, 6-4; and American Robby Ginepri ousted Santiago Ventura of Spain, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.
Top-seeded Mardy Fish withdrew after replacing Andy Roddick on the US Davis Cup team.
Fish was selected for the team a day after Roddick lost an epic Wimbledon final to Roger Federer. Roddick withdrew from the Davis Cup citing a right hip flexor injury.
■SWEDISH OPEN
AP, BASTAD, SWEDEN
Fifth-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania beat Swedish wild card Johanna Larsson 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the first round of the Swedish Open on Monday.
Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also advanced to the second round of the clay-court WTA tournament, coming from one set down to defeat US veteran Jill Craybas 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a rain-delayed match.
Eighth-seeded Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic defeated Poland’s Urszula Radwanska 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain, Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Gisela Dulko of Argentina also progressed to the second round.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
Shin Oebori coaches the Fukagawa Hawks youth baseball team in Tokyo, and he is very aware how Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani touches his players. “With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible,” Oebori said, wrapping up practice yesterday on an all-dirt field set alongside a local Buddhist temple, below an elevated highway, and in the shadow of tall apartment blocks in central Tokyo. “Nothing is impossible with him. A dream is not a dream,” Oebori said, stepping out of the fenced practice field that keeps balls from landing on the temple grounds. None of the players hitting sponge-soft baseball has reached
Italian defender Marco Curto has been banned for 10 matches for racially abusing South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan while playing for Como 1907 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a pre-season friendly in July. Curto, who is on loan from Como to Serie B club Cesena, would serve half of the punishment immediately with the other half suspended for two years. “The player Marco Curto was found responsible for discriminatory behavior and sanctioned with a 10-match suspension,” a FIFA spokesperson said. “The player is ordered to render community services and undergo training and education with an organization approved by FIFA.” Wolves said the club would
CRICKET Azhar’s 59 leads Stallions Aashir Azhar’s blazing half-century guided the Taipei Stallions to victory over Taipei Super 11 in the Taiwan Premier League’s Group A at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei yesterday. The Stallions were 102-3 and into the 12th over of 20 when Azhar came to the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in the 25 deliveries he faced to push his side to 171-5. Gokul Kumar was the star with the ball for Super 11, taking 3-17. In the reply, Deepak Vishnu outscored Azhar with 77 from 50 balls, but nobody else got past 20 as