Nicolas Kiefer upset third-seeded Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart.
Kiefer beat Berdych for the first time in five matches. Berdych had been hoping for his second clay-court title in Germany this year, after winning in Munich.
Top-seed Gilles Simon of France advanced by defeating Philipp Petzschner of Germany 6-3, 6-4.
Another German, fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber, eased into the second round by beating Diego Junqueira of Argentina 6-3, 6-2.
Fabio Fognini of Italy dropped the first set but rallied to beat seventh-seeded Fabrice Santoro of France 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-1.
With Germans enjoying a good day, Rainer Schuettler won only his second match on clay this year when he rallied to beat Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4, and Mischa Zverev defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-2, 6-4.
In an all-German encounter, Simon Greul beat Davis Cup player Andreas Beck 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5).
Alexandre Sidorenko of France defeated another Spaniard, Daniel Munoz-De La Nava, 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-2.
Oscar Hernandez notched one Spanish victory when he beat Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-4, 6-4, and Jeremy Chardy of France upset eight-seeded Jose Acasuso of Argentina 6-2, 7-6 (4).
■SWEDISH OPEN
AP, BASTAD, SWEDEN
Guillermo Canas of Argentina beat last year’s Wimbledon junior champion Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-3, 7-6 (2) on Tuesday in the first round of the Swedish Open.
Juan Monaco beat eighth-seeded Maximo Gonzalez 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-1 in an all-Argentine match.
Bjorn Phau of Germany, Potito Starace of Italy, Austria’s Daniel Koellerer, Peter Luczak of Australia, Kristof Vliegen of Belgium and Juan Monaco of Argentina also reached the second round.
■PRAGUE OPEN
AP, PRAGUE
Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia eliminated Nicole Vaidisova from the first round of the Prague Open on Tuesday, beating the Czech player 7-5, 6-2.
Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland also advanced, beating sixth-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-2, 7-6 (5), while Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic defeated Ksenia Pervak of Russia 6-3, 6-2 and Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic beat Anna Lapuschenkova of Russia 6-1, 6-0.
■PALERMO OPEN
AP, PALERMO, ITALY
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain ousted third-seed Alize Cornet of France 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the Palermo Open on Tuesday.
Home favorite and top seed Flavia Pennetta began her 10th bid to win Palermo, easing into the second round with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Arantxa Parra Santonja from Spain.
Pennetta reached the final in 2004 and lost last year in the semi-finals to compatriot Sara Errani, who won the tournament.
Errani began her title defense by defeating Mariya Koryttseva.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
Erling Haaland on Sunday scored twice to propel Manchester City up to second in the English Premier League with a 3-1 win over AFC Bournemouth. The Cherries started the day in second thanks to the longest unbeaten run in the English top flight, but Andoni Iraola’s side were undone by the scintillating form of the Norwegian striker, who took his tally to 13 Premier League goals in 10 games. Haaland’s relentless streak is maintaining City’s title challenge as they reduced the gap to leaders Arsenal back to six points and edged one point ahead of Liverpool, who they face at the weekend. “Important
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.
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