TENNIS
Jarkko Nieminen advances
Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen beat eighth-seeded Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 to reach the second round of the Open Sud de France on Tuesday. The 33-year-old Nieminen broke his opponent’s serve three times and next meets either Japan’s Tatsuma Ito or Steve Darcis of Belgium. Meanwhile, Kenny de Schepper, one of several Frenchmen to reach the second round, had 10 aces in a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win against Turkey’s Marsel Ilhan and next faces top-seeded Gael Monfils of France, the defending champion. Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Paul-Henri Mathieu and wild-card Lucas Pouille also advanced. Roger-Vasselin served 14 aces as he beat Germany’s Andreas Beck 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Mathieu downed qualifier Taro Daniel of Japan 6-3, 6-7 (7/5), 6-1, while Pouille beat Russian Alexander Kudryavtsev 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
TENNIS
Lajovic wins in Ecuador
Seventh-seeded Dusan Lajovic of Serbia has reached the second round of the Ecuador Open, defeating Luca Vanni of Italy 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 on Tuesday. In a match between unseeded players, Alejandro Falla of Colombia beat Brazilian Joao Souza 6-7 (7/3), 6-1, 6-4 to advance. The four top-seeded players — Feliciano Lopez, Santiago Giraldo, Fernando Verdasco and Martin Klizan — have byes into the second round. The Quito event is the first in a month of ATP and WTA clay-court tournaments across Latin America, all pointing toward the French Open in May.
BOXING
Carl Froch vacates title
Carl Froch has vacated his IBF super middleweight title because of an elbow injury, giving fellow British boxer James DeGale a chance to claim it. The 37-year-old Froch was hurt in training, ending hopes of meeting Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in Las Vegas on March 28. Froch (33-2, 24 KO) said: “It’s been a frustrating couple of weeks with terms agreed for the Chavez fight, only for me to be unable to proceed in camp due to injury.” He won the belt in 2012 and successfully defended it four times, most recently in May last year by stopping George Groves at Wembley in London. He retains the WBA crown, which he won in 2013 against Mikkel Kessler. Froch still hopes to line up Chavez this year. DeGale (24-1, 14 KO) was the IBF’s mandatory challenger and is in negotiations for a fight in London in April.
SOCCER
Algeria to keep Gourcuff
Frenchman Christian Gourcuff is set to remain as Algeria coach despite their quarter-final elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations, the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) confirmed on Tuesday. “FAF president Mohamed Raouraoua has renewed his confidence in The Greens’ [Algeria] coach Christian Gourcuff,” an FAF spokesman said. The former Lorient boss signed a contract in August last year and the decision to renew his contract was taken just after their elimination by Ivory Coast from the tournament in Africa. “There will be changes within the Greens. Some players are entering their 30s and are preparing to leave the team,” Gourcuff said. “We’ll have to call up other younger players. We already have a core of young and good players around which the future national team will be built. We’ll only need to reinforce certain areas by other elements for upcoming deadlines, notably the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2018 World Cup.”
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
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
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
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