TENNIS
Barthel surprises champion
Mona Barthel surprised defending champion Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, cruising to victory in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the WTA Tour’s Bell Challenge tournament in Quebec City, Canada, on Friday. The 22-year-old German third seed hammered four aces and had to overcome seven double faults in the 87-minute match on the indoor carpet at the PEPS Laval University facility. Czech player Zahlavova Strycova, who beat Kiwi Marina Erakovic in last year’s final, finished with four double faults and won less than half (42 percent) of her second serve points. Barthel advances to the semi-finals where she will face Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, who was leading Anna Tatishvili 6-2, 3-0 when the Georgian retired from their match. Flipkens upset top seed Dominika Cibulkova in the opening round. In other quarter-finals on Friday, France’s Kristina Mladenovic routed American Melanie Oudin 6-0, 6-1 in just 63 minutes. Mladenovic will next square off against eighth seeded Lucie Hradecka for a place in the final. Czech Hradecka cruised past Lauren Davis of the US 6-4, 6-2 in their quarter-final match.
MOTORCYCLING
Leaders opt out of practice
World championship rivals Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa opted out of Friday practice for the San Marino Grand Prix after rain dashed hopes of any useful dry runs. Only 13 of the 21 riders went out on the partly dry Misano circuit with nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi managing just one careful lap before he headed back to the Ducati garage. “On days like this, it’s almost impossible to get any feedback on the bike,” said Honda’s Pedrosa, who has won the last two races and trails Yamaha star Lorenzo by just 13 points in the world title race. “Actually, we saw in both sessions that the weather was changing so quickly that the riders going out with slick tires had to come back in because it started raining or the other way around: Going out with wets and destroying them in just a few laps as it was drying up again. The weather forecast looks better for tomorrow [Saturday] and Sunday, so let’s hope we can take advantage of tomorrow morning’s session to find a good setting and have a good qualifying.”
CYCLING
Wiggins pulls out of race
Olympic and Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins’ withdrawal from the Tour of Britain with a stomach bug on Friday has left the race without one of its main attractions. Fans flocking to the 190km route from Powys Castle in Welshpool to Caerphilly Castle in south Wales were left disappointed after Wiggins failed to start the sixth stage, which was won by Czech rider Leopold Koenig. Wiggins’ fellow Briton Jonathan Tiernan-Locke grabbed the overall lead after finishing just behind Koenig. However, rather than cheering on those who crossed the line first, spectators were lamenting Wiggins’ absence. “I’m sorry to have to pull out of the Tour,” Wiggins told his Team Sky Web site. “I’ve loved the last six days, meeting so many people around the country and enjoying those crowds along the roads. It has been a great experience, but this bug sadly means I’ll now miss the climax this weekend. I’m sorry I can’t continue and would like to thank all those fans, of all ages, for the support.” Amateur rider Joel Bland, 18, from Lampeter, was one of thousands who had lined the streets, and after learning about Wiggins’s withdrawal, he told the BBC: “I can’t believe that. That’s a shame.” The race finishes today.
GOLF
Linkou play suspended
Play in the second round of the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship in Taiwan was abandoned yesterday, as strong winds and rain caused by a passing typhoon lashed New Taipei City, organizers said. The blustery and damp conditions at the Linkou International Golf and Country Club forced officials to reduce the US$500,000 event to a 54-stroke play tournament, the Asian Tour said in a statement. “The extremely wet and windy conditions made it a challenge for play to continue today. The safety of our players going out to the course was also another priority,” said Wanchai Meechai, the Asian Tour’s tournament director. “As such, we have taken the decision to abandon play for today,” he said. Play would resume this morning, when conditions were expected to be calmer, he said. “We are also not ruling out a Monday finish so that we can get all 54 holes played,” Wanchai added. Angelo Que of the Philippines holds the clubhouse lead with his first round seven-under 65, while American Jason Knutzon, who was even-par through nine holes, took a share of second place alongside India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar. Taiwan’s Lin Wen-tang is in fourth place after an opening 67, while India’s Anirban Lahiri is one back in fifth place on 68. Singapore’s Koh Dengshan, who was one-over after three holes before play was abandoned, remained unperturbed by the weather conditions. “This is expected of the weather in Taipei and before I came, I was already mentally prepared for these conditions,” Koh said.
SOCCER
Kansas City salvage draw
C.J. Sapong scored in the third minute of second-half stoppage time to salvage a 1-1 draw Sporting Kansas City against Houston on Friday, pushing out their lead in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference to four points. A day after Chicago had closed within three points, Sporting looked like going down to a dispiriting home loss as they trailed to Brad Davis’ 58th-minute goal. However Sapong bobbed up with the last-gasp equalizer to extend Sporting’s unbeaten streak to six games. By contrast, Houston has won only one of its past six. In the Western Conference, Los Angeles moved up to third with a 2-0 home win over Colorado. Robbie Keane scored on a Landon Donovan pass in the 15th minute and Swedish international Christian Wilhelmsson, making his MLS debut, netted from a long pass from Marcelo Sarvas in the 58th minute.
GOLF
Senior leads in Hawaii
Australia’s Peter Senior shot a 7-under 65 on Friday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Champions Tour’s inaugural Hawaii Championship. Winless in 65 starts in three seasons on the 50 and over tour, the 53-year-old Senior birdied seven of the first 13 holes and closed with five pars in breezy afternoon conditions. “It would be nice to have a win,” Senior said. Senior has five runner-up finishes on the tour, losing three playoffs. He won the 2010 Australian PGA for the last of his 27 regular international victories and also won the 2010 Australian Senior Open. Jay Don Blake and Bill Glasson were tied for second. Blake, coming off a victory three weeks ago in the Boeing Classic, finished with eight straight pars after making six birdies in an eight-hole stretch. Mark McNulty and Eduardo Romero shot 67, and Charles Schwab Cup leader Tom Lehman was another stroke back along with Duffy Waldorf and Willie Wood. Waldorf is making his second senior start. The four-time PGA Tour winner tied for eighth in the Boeing Classic.
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
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
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
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