■BASEBALL
Hanley Ramirez benched
Florida Marlins All-Star Hanley Ramirez was benched during his team’s 5-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday for showing a lack of effort, manager Fredi Gonzalez told the team’s Web site. The disciplinary action came in the second inning where shortstop Ramirez misplayed a ball, sending it into left field, where he casually jogged after it and allowed two Arizona runs. When the Marlins returned to the clubhouse from the field, Gonzalez exchanged words with Ramirez before the player was replaced by Brian Barden for the third inning. Despite being hobbled in the first when he fouled a pitch off of his shin, the manager did not accept the injury as an excuse.
■TENNIS
Nalbandian nurses injury
David Nalbandian has pulled out of the French Open with a left hamstring injury. Nalbandian announced the move on Monday on his Web site. He said he hopes to return in time to play Wimbledon, which begins on June 21. Nalbandian reached the Wimbledon final in 2002, losing to Lleyton Hewitt of Australia. The Argentine has been slowed by the hamstring problem for a month.
■TENNIS
Bondarenko beats Vinci
Sixth-seeded Alona Bondarenko beat Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-3, 6-1 on Monday to advance to the second round of the rain-disrupted Warsaw Open. Bondarenko’s match was delayed for several hours by heavy rainfall, and the Ukrainian’s sister Katerina Bondarenko then lost 6-3, 6-1 to defending champion Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania in the only other completed match of the day. The third match between Polish wild cards Marta Domachowska and Katarzyna Piter was halted at 1-1 in the first set and was to resume yesterday.
■TENNIS
Kubot beats Mina in Nice
Eighth-seeded Lukasz Kubot of Poland beat Gianni Mina of France 7-5, 6-4 to reach the second round of the Open de Nice on Monday. Kubot, a finalist in Costa do Sauipe, Brazil, earlier this year, broke the French teenager three times and will next face Potito Starace of Italy. Earlier, Olivier Rochus of Belgium beat Adrian Mannarino of France 6-3, 6-1 to set up a meeting with top-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden. Leonardo Mayer rallied to defeat French qualifier David Guez 1-6, 6-1, 6-3. The Argentine hit six aces and converted all four break points. He will take on fourth-seeded Tomaz Bellucci of Brazil. Simon Greul of Germany downed local favorite Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-4, while Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland beat Fabio Fognini of Italy 7-5, 6-2.
■ICE HOCKEY
Capitals sign Backstrom
Nicklas Backstrom signed a 10-year, US$67 million deal with the Washington Capitals on Monday, a major investment in a player who has rapidly developed into one of the best centers in the NHL. The 22-year-old Swede and two-time league MVP Alex Ovechkin have developed a partnership that accounted for 210 points this season, making them the top scoring teammate duo in the league. “We now have two of maybe the top five players in the world playing on our team for many years to come,” coach Bruce Boudreau said. Ovechkin is about to enter the third year of a US$124 million, 13-year deal. Knowing that Ovechkin isn’t going anywhere played a part in Backstrom’s desire to commit to Washington for the long haul. “I was thinking that I wanted to play with him,” Backstrom said. “Hopefully he’ll want to play with me, too.”
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS