Thu, Feb 05, 2015 page18

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  • Agencies
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  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.”
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