TENNIS
Zverev claims debut title
US Open champion Stan Wawrinka came up short against rising German star Alexander Zverev in the Saint Petersburg Open final on Sunday, the teenager claiming his debut ATP Tour title 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. “I’m full of emotions. I just couldn’t have chosen a better place to win my maiden title,” said Zverev, who has Russian origins. “It was really hard when I was trailing 3-0 in the deciding set, but I forced myself to keep on fighting and now I’m really happy with my win.” Wawrinka congratulated Zverev, calling him the future of tennis. “You’re the future of the tennis, but you’re already at the top,” Wawrinka said. “Today you’ve played a great match and won deservedly. My congratulations for what you’re doing so far.”
TENNIS
Pouille triumphs in Metz
France’s Lucas Pouille won his first career ATP Tour title on Sunday when he downed top seed Dominic Thiem of Austria 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 in the Moselle Open final. World No. 18 Pouille, who defeated Rafael Nadal on his way to the US Open quarter-finals, claimed the victory in 78 minutes. The 22-year-old Frenchman notched his fifth victory over a top-10 opponent this year and a 30th match win overall. “Winning a title is a big step, it’s an objective I wanted to achieve this year. It was a well-played final. We both played at a high level,” Pouille said.
SOCCER
It could’ve been six: Noble
West Ham United’s Mark Noble admitted with rare post-match candor that his side were fortunate to escape with a 3-0 defeat by Southampton at the London Stadium on Sunday — their fourth successive reverse in the English Premier League. “To be honest, it could have been six,” said Noble, the club captain and veteran of 12 years. “It was laughable. We probably could have played until tonight and still not scored.” Manager Slaven Bilic looked shell-shocked after the match, answering questions with soft, measured tones. “It is the same players and manager who were doing good things last season [when they finished seventh]. Eighty percent of the team is like that, but we were not happy with how we played in the last third of the pitch,” he said.
CYCLING
Terpstra wins Eneco Tour
Dutch rider Niki Terpstra of Etixx-QuickStep won the Eneco Tour after taking second to Edvald Boasson Hagen in Sunday’s seventh and final stage. Norway’s Boasson Hagen of Dimension Data claimed the closing day’s honors in a sprint at the end of a challenging 197.8km ride from Bornem to Grammont, Belgium. Terpstra was placed fifth going into Sunday’s stage, almost half a minute behind Australian BMC Racing rider Rohan Dennis, the overall leader, but Dennis’ hopes of victory were compromised when he crashed after 48km.
GOLF
Levy edges Fisher in playoff
Frenchman Alexander Levy beat England’s Ross Fisher on the second hole of a playoff to win the European Open title in Bad Griesbach, Germany, on Sunday. After both players parred the 18th on their first attempts, Levy claimed his third European Tour title with a 30-foot putt to win the event, which was reduced to 54 holes by bad weather. It was Levy’s first title since the 2014 Portugal Masters.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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