TENNIS
Qualifier upsets top seed
Dutch qualifier Richel Hogenkamp upset top-seeded and 2010 champion Julia Goerges 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 at the Gastein Ladies in a first-round match that was interrupted for four hours because of rain on Tuesday. The German won the opening set against the 211th-ranked Hogenkamp, who made her debut on the WTA tour, before play was suspended. Three other seeds advanced as No. 2 Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium defeated Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia 6-3, 6-4; No. 4 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain won against Marta Domachowska of Poland 6-4, 7-5; and No. 7 Alize Cornet of France beat Edina Gallovits-Hall of Romania 7-5, 7-5. Mandy Minella of Luxembourg, Sarah Gronert of Germany and Sacha Jones of Australia also reached the second round.
TENNIS
Nadal’s loan watch stolen
Rafael Nadal had a 300,000 euro (US$376,239) luxury watch stolen from the Paris hotel where he stayed with his parents during the French Open, police said on Tuesday. Nadal’s parents noticed on Tuesday morning that the watch, which was on loan from luxury watchmaker Richard Mille, had disappeared from their room in a hotel in Paris’s upscale eighth arrondissement and reported it stolen, a police source said. French newspaper reports said the company had lent Nadal the watch for the French Open, which the Spanish tennis sensation won for a record seventh time on Monday.
OLYMPICS
Lifter wanted money
An Australian weightlifter has been accused of demanding A$5,000 (US$4,988) to compete at an event where his participation was essential to allow his country to win a berth at the London Olympics. Australian Weightlifting Federation chief Michael Keelan has levelled the accusation at Daniel Koum and said he and other team members had been forced to have a whip round before the weightlifter would compete. Cameroon-born Koum, who was not available to comment yesterday, had earlier denied the accusation to the Sydney Morning Herald. Keelan said the incident occurred at the Oceania championships in Samoa last week, which doubled as an Olympic qualifier and where the Australian men’s team needed a good finish to win a place in the London Games. Koum came to Australia to compete at the 2006 Commonwealth Games for Cameroon, before becoming a citizen and competing for his adopted country at the 2010 Commonwealths in Delhi.
OLYMPICS
Breen gets team place
Sprinter Melissa Breen has been handed a place in Australia’s athletics team for the London Olympics, despite missing the automatic qualifying standard by two thousands of a second. The 21-year-old Breen was named yesterday to run the 100m and the 4x100m relay after posting a series of quick times in her hunt for selection. Selectors also took into account her domination of the domestic season and named her among a 54-strong team, the second-largest Australian team for an Olympic games. The team is headlined by world 100m hurdles champion Sally Pearson, defending Olympic pole vault champion Steve Hooker and last year’s world championships long jump silver medalist Mitchell Watt. Three-time Olympian Tamsyn Lewis was the team’s notable omission after failing to meet 1 minute, 59.90 seconds in the 800m. Long jumper Fabrice Lapierre, the 2010 world indoor champion, also missed selection after failing to reach the automatic qualifying standard.
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barca secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barca a 2-0 win over
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