Taiwan’s Jimmy Wang crashed out of the Claro Open Colombia quarter-finals on Friday after he was beaten by defending champion and No. 2 seed Ivo Karlovic in Bogota.
The Croatian improved to 7-0 at the hard-court event after serving 21 aces, facing no break-point chances and converting two of seven to defeat Wang 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) in 1 hour, 25 minutes.
Karlovic goes on to face fellow 35-year-old Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic after the fourth seed beat hometown favorite Alejandro Gonzalez 6-4, 6-4.
In yesterday’s other semi-final, wild-card Bernard Tomic of Australia was due to face off against No. 8 seed Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic.
Estrella Burgos reached his first ATP Tour semi-final after defeating top seed Richard Gasquet of France 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour, 5 minutes, while Tomic advanced after a 6-4, 6-4 win over Vasek Pospisil of Canada.
The Australian hammered 10 aces and saved the lone break-point opportunity created by the No. 3 seed.
HAMBURG OPEN
AP, HAMBURG, Germany
The 17-year-old Alexander Zverev reached the semi-finals of his hometown tournament by defeating Tobias Kamke 0-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the Hamburg Open on Friday.
Zverev earned just six points in the opening set, but he saved seven of 11 break points and converted four chances to beat his fellow Hamburg resident in two hours.
The 285th-ranked Zverev is the first 17-year-old to reach an ATP semi-finals since 2006, when Marin Cilic lost to Feliciano Lopez at Gstaad.
Zverev has also beaten Robin Haase, fifth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny and 11th-seeded Santiago Giraldo. He next faces top-seeded David Ferrer, who eased past Spanish compatriot Pablo Andujar 6-0, 6-2.
Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer defeated Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 6-1, 7-5 and the seventh-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany later beat Czech player Lukas Rosol 6-4, 6-4 to complete the other semi-final.
Manchester United on Tuesday confirmed Michael Carrick as interim manager until the end of the season, tasking him with leading the Red Devils back into the UEFA Champions League. “Having the responsibility to lead Manchester United is an honor,” said Carrick, 44, who won 12 major trophies in his 12-year playing career at United. The former midfielder previously had an unbeaten three-game stint as caretaker boss at Old Trafford in 2021. Carrick then took on his first permanent managerial role at second-tier Middlesbrough in October 2022 and was sacked in June last year after the club finished 10th in the
Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg on Wednesday was ruled out for the second half of their 118-109 loss to the Denver Nuggets after the No. 1 pick sprained his left ankle in the first half. Flagg was called for a foul while defending against Peyton Watson and turned the ankle as he fell to the floor with 6 minutes, 1 second left in the second quarter. Flagg limped to the bench and continued to the locker room, but returned for the final 2 minutes, 35 seconds before the break. The 19-year-old did not come out for the second half before the announcement that
Yassine Bounou on Wednesday saved two penalties, while Youssef en-Nesyri netted the decisive spot-kick as hosts Morocco secured a 4-2 shoot-out victory over Nigeria following a 0-0 draw in a tense Africa Cup of Nations semi-final in Rabat. Morocco, seeking their first continental title in 50 years, are to face 2021 winners Senegal in Sunday’s decider in Rabat, while Nigeria take on Egypt in the third-place playoff tomorrow. The 120 minutes before the shoot-out had few clear-cut chances for either side, but it was Morocco who created more opportunities, although they were denied by some fine saves from Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali. Nigeria
James Harden on Friday scored 31 points and came up big in overtime to help the Los Angeles Clippers erase a double-digit deficit on the way to a 121-117 NBA victory over the Toronto Raptors. Harden scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Clippers pushed their wining steak to five games despite the absence of star Kawhi Leonard with a sprained right ankle. The Clippers trailed by 11 entering the fourth quarter, but Harden drilled a pair of free-throws with 1:24 left in regulation to tie it and after misses from both teams, they went to
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