OPEN DE NICE
Bernard Tomic advances
Fifth-seeded Bernard Tomic beat Lukas Lacko 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday to reach the second round. The Australian broke Lacko’s serve twice in each set to set up a second-round match against Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, who eased past big-serving Sam Querrey 6-2, 7-5. Seventh-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan also advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (7/3), 1-6, 6-1 win over Alejandro Falla of Colombia and next plays Nikolay Davydenko after the Russian defeated Matthew Ebden of Australia 6-3, 6-3. Also, Xavier Malisse of Belgium beat Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 7-5, 6-4, Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria defeated Dudi Sela of Israel, 7-5, 6-1, and Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Benoit Paire 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) in an all-French match.
STRASBOURG
Schiavone beats Cadantu
Second-seeded Francesca Schiavone eased into the second round after beating Alexandra Cadantu of Romania 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday, while three other seeded players lost. The former French Open champion broke Cadantu’s serve six times and next plays qualifier Mirjana Lucic of Croatia, who rallied to beat Britain’s Anne Keothavong 2-6, 7-5, 6-4. Third-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia, No. 5 Mona Barthel of Germany and No. 6 Marina Erakovic of New Zealand all went out. Kirilenko retired at the start of the third set against Sloane Stephens of the US with the score 3-6, 7-5, Barthel lost 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) to Russia’s Alexandra Panova and Erakovic was thrashed 6-1, 6-3 by Japan’s Ayumi Morita. Lucie Hradecka, Virginie Razzano, Johanna Larsson and Timea Babos also advanced.
TEAM WORLD CUP
US drop two straight
The US fell to their second straight defeat at the event in Dusseldorf on Tuesday, while Serbia posted their second victory in two matches. The Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek both won their singles in straight sets against the US. Berdych fired 12 aces in defeating Andy Roddick 6-1, 6-2 and Stepanek routed James Blake 6-2, 6-1. Serbia also took an unassailable 2-0 lead over Russia. Viktor Troicki lost only seven points on serve as he raced to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Dmitry Tursunov. Janko Tipsarevic secured Serbia’s victory by defeating Alex Bogomolov Jr 6-1, 6-3. Russia fell to 0-2. Defending champions Germany made a winning start to their second Blue Group match as Florian Mayer dismissed Croatia’s Ivan Dodig 6-1, 6-1. Argentina took a 1-0 lead over Japan in a Red Group match when Leonardo Mayer defeated Japan’s Tatsuma Ito 6-4, 6-4.
FRENCH OPEN
Injured Nishikori pulls out
Kei Nishikori of Japan has pulled out of the upcoming tourney after failing to recover from an abdominal injury. The 18th-ranked Nishikori picked up the injury playing against Fernando Verdasco in the Barcelona Open quarter-finals last month and he has not played since. Organizers said on Tuesday that he would be replaced in the draw by Slovakia’s Karol Beck.
US OPEN
Clijsters done after tourney
Kim Clijsters says this year’s US Open will be her last tournament before retiring. The former No. 1 had already announced that this would be her final season and said on Tuesday that she means to quit after Flushing Meadows, where she is a three-time champion. Clijsters said at a news conference that “I will end my career at the US Open.” The Belgian star said Flushing Meadows “is where I enjoyed my greatest triumphs and it is a very special place for me.”
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
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