Alex Bogomolov Jr unexpectedly found himself in the spotlight at the Hall of Fame Championships on Wednesday, upsetting fifth-seeded Arnaud Clement of France 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round of the rain-hampered event.
Playing in the one of the few mid-afternoon matches, Bogomolov beat Clement in front of an unusually large crowd on a side court.
Heavy rain halted the only three matches that were played on Tuesday. Despite bright sunshine, center court and one of the two side courts were still soggy on Wednesday.
PHOTO: EPA
Officials were unable to get center court in playable condition despite spending most of the day trying.
In other opening-round matches, third-seeded Sam Querrey of the US beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 6-3, 6-2, Nicholas Mahut of France beat American Amer Delic 6-4, 6-4, while sixth-seeded Philipp Petzschner of Germany defeated Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-2 in a match that started on Tuesday.
Two-time defending champion Fabrice Santoro of France had his match against Italy’s Flavio Cipolla halted by rain at 3-3 in the first set.
■BUDAPEST GRAND PRIX
AP, BUDAPEST
Shahar Peer of Israel upset defending champion Alize Cornet of France in straight sets in the second round of the Budapest GDF Suez Grand Prix on Wednesday.
Peer jumped ahead 5-1 in the first set before losing her serve, but did not allow Cornet much of a comeback and quickly closed out the set 6-2. The second set was even more lopsided and ended 6-0.
In today’s quarter-final, Peer will face sixth-seeded Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine who defeated Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Also in the second round, Romania’s Edina Gallovits upset third-seeded Sybille Bammer of Austria 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Bammer won the first set as expected and was up 2-0 in the second when Gallovits won three games in a row.
In the decisive set, Gallovits played more consistently and forced her opponent to commit more errors.
Gallovits will play qualifier Petra Martic of Croatia, who beat Ukraine’s Maria Koryttseva 6-3, 6-2.
In the only first round match played on Wednesday, top-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland defeated Andrea Petkovic of Germany 7-6 (7/3), 6-1.
Schnyder’s next opponent will be Italy’s Maria Elena Camerin.
■SWEDISH OPEN
AP, BASTAD, SWEDEN
Gisela Dulko of Argentina saved four match points in ousting fifth-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5) to reach the Swedish Open quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Dulko saved three match points at 5-3 down in the last set and another when Cirstea served for the second-round match at 5-4.
The Argentine, who upset Maria Sharapova in the second round at Wimbledon, ultimately overcame Cirstea in the tie-breaker.
Dulko will meet second-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, who defeated Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.
Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki was also a comfortable winner, 6-4, 6-2 over Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.
Third-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy cruised past Masa Zec Peskiric of Slovenia for the loss of three games, while seventh-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain conceded only five against Ellen Allgurin.
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For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
An amateur soccer league organized by farmers, students and factory workers in rural China has unexpectedly drawn millions of fans and inspired big cities to form their own, raising hopes China can grow talent from the ground up and finally become a global force. The nation of 1.4 billion people has about 200 million soccer fans, more than any other country, but it has failed to build world-class teams, partly due to a top-down approach where clubs pick players from a very small pool of prescreened candidates. The professional game is marred by a history of fixed matches, corruption, and dismal performances,
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