Tobias Kamke of Germany defeated South Africa’s Izak van der Merwe 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the second round of the SAP Open on Monday, while John McEnroe made a brief return to play an exhibition doubles match, teaming with young American Jack Sock to beat Gael Monfils and Steve Johnson 6-4, 6-4 in a lighthearted match.
McEnroe showed the deft skill at the net that made him one of the game’s best doubles players ever in a match that included three players young enough to be his children.
“If you know some of the tricks of the trade, I don’t care,” he said. “I’m covering half the court. This is beautiful for me. I’m not saying I could go out and win things, but I’d be comfortable going against anybody right now playing doubles.”
McEnroe hit crisp volleys all match long, bringing back memories of his touring days when he won seven Grand Slam singles titles and 10 major doubles titles from 1977 to 1992.
ABN AMRO WORLD
AP, ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
Paul-Henri Mathieu fought back from a set down on Monday to upset fourth seed Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in the opening round of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament.
Sixth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine also went out in the first round, losing 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2 to Lukasz Kubot of Poland.
Mathieu, ranked No. 733 in the world after missing the whole of last year with a knee injury, looked sharp in beating Lopez in a match that lasted nearly three hours.
“I worked hard during my injury and I think I am fit,” he said. “This is a good comeback.”
Another Frenchman, fifth seed Richard Gasquet, overcame an injured Flavio Cipolla to win his first-round match 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.
After losing the first set, Cipolla easily took the second, but struggled in the decider with a left-thigh injury.
Jesse Huta Halung advanced to the second round at the expense of two-time Rotterdam finalist Ivan Ljubicic. The Dutchman won 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 against the 2005 and 2007 runner-up to secure his first ever win at the tournament.
He next meets the winner of Thiemo de Bakker’s match against seventh-seeded Viktor Troicki.
BRAZIL OPEN
AP, SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
Seventh-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain lost to Filippo Volandri of Italy in the first round of the Brazil Open on Monday.
Volandri needed 65 minutes to defeat the 51st-ranked Montanes in Sao Paulo, converting four of his seven break points to advance to the second round.
Earlier, wild-card Javier Marti of Spain defeated 2009 semi-finalist Frederico Gil of Portugal 6-2, 6-4, while Brazil’s Ricardo Mello beat Pere Riba of Spain 6-4, 6-2 in the late match.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
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