TENNIS
Cibulkova beats Pironkova
Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova overcame the heat and a three-hour match with Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova on Sunday in the first round of the Connecticut Open. The 26-year-old Cibulkova won 7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (7/5), 6-3 as she continues her comeback from left Achilles surgery that sidelined her for more than four months this year. “The sun wasn’t so strong, but it was really, really humid,” Cibulkova said. “I was sweating a lot, and in the end I was cramping a lot. I could feel it in my body I was getting really tired, but I knew I had to stay strong. I said to myself: ‘OK, I’m here for three hours now, I’m not going to give it up.’” The tournament lost its top seed when Simona Halep withdrew because of a left thigh injury after losing to Serena Williams in the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati earlier in the day. Halep was replaced in the draw by lucky loser Lesia Tsurenko. In women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and China’s Liang Chen defeated Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena and Slovakia’s Andreja Klepac 6-3, 6-2 in their first-round match. In other matches at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu beat Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 and the Czech Republic’s Barbora Strycova topped Italy’s Camila Giorgi 6-2, 7-5.
TENNIS
Groth defeats Donaldson
Australia’s Sam Groth beat the US’ Jared Donaldson on Sunday night in the first round of the Winston-Salem Open. Groth won 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (7/5) to advance to face 13th-seeded Steve Johnson of the US in the second round. South Korea’s Chung Hyeon also advanced, beating Britain’s James Ward 6-7 (7/9), 6-4, 6-3. Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun beat Robin Haase of the Netherlands 7-6 (7/4), 6-2; Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman topped Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-4, 7-6 (10/8); and Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo advanced when Belgium’s Steve Darcis retired.
CYCLING
Greipel wins Cyclassics
German sprinter Andre Greipel, who won four stages on this year’s Tour de France, survived a fall after just 10km to win the Vattenfall Cyclassics race in Hamburg, Germany, on Sunday. The 33-year-old Lotto Soudal rider, who was born in Rostock, northern Germany, relished his first victory in Hamburg to win in 4 hours, 57.05 minutes, ahead of Norway’s Alexander Kristoff and Italy’s Giacomo Nizzolo in a blanket finish. A crash ended the hopes of Britain’s Mark Cavendish, who had been amongst the prerace favorites.
FORMULA ONE
Pirelli shifts blowout blame
Sebastian Vettel’s explosive Belgian Grand Prix blowout would not have happened if tire manufacturer Pirelli had been listened to two years ago, the Italian company said in a statement on Sunday. Pirelli said they had asked in 2013, after a spate of blowouts at the British Grand Prix forced a change in construction, for a maximum to be set for the number of laps that could be run with the same tires. “This request was not accepted. The proposal put forward a maximum distance equivalent to 50 percent of the grand prix distance for the prime tire and 30 percent for the option. These conditions, if applied today at Spa, would have limited the maximum number of laps on the medium compound to 22,” Pirelli said. Ferrari’s Vettel, who was running in third place, had completed 27 laps on the medium tire and was on a one-stop strategy when his car’s right rear blew on the penultimate lap of the race.
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
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
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
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