TENNIS
World No. 116 beats Serena
Serena Williams suffered her first loss since 2012 to a rival outside the WTA’s top 100, falling to compatriot Shelby Rogers in a Friday quarter-final at the Top Seed Open. Rogers, ranked 116th, outlasted ninth-ranked Williams 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) after 2 hours, 7 minutes to oust the 23-time Grand Slam champion with a service winner. “It’s every kid’s dream growing up to be able to do something like that,” Rogers said. “Weird circumstances, weird surroundings — but a win is a win.” The US Open hardcourt tune-up event is being staged in a quarantine bubble in Lexington, Kentucky.
BOXING
Boxer loses due to weight
Unbeaten American fighter David Benavidez on Friday lost his World Boxing Council super-middleweight title on the scale, failing to make weight for his bout yesterday against Colombia’s Alexis Angulo. The main event was to take place as planned in a COVID-19 quarantine bubble at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, but only Angulo could capture the vacated 76.2kg division belt. Benavidez weighed in at 77.45kg, while Angulo tipped the scale at 75.98kg. “This is obviously my first time missing weight. Just very disappointed to lose the title on the scale, but I’m still going to win the fight,” Benavidez said.
BASKETBALL
Storm win seven straight
Breanna Stewart scored 21 points and Alysha Clark had 15 with seven rebounds to lead the Seattle Storm to an 83-65 victory over the Dallas Wings on Friday for their seventh straight WNBA win. It is the longest regular-season streak for Seattle since its 2010 championship team won 13 straight. Jewell Loyd added 12 points for Seattle (9-1), while Sue Bird had seven points and five assists in 21 minutes. Stewart scored 20-plus for the fifth time this season, shooting 9 of 12 from the field. Seattle made three three-pointers in the opening six-plus minutes of the game for a 23-10 lead and retained a 13-point advantage at halftime.
OLYMPICS
Indians to train in Dubai
Three of India’s top swimmers are to begin two months of training in Dubai next month, sports officials said yesterday, as pools in India remain closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) announced that Virdhawal Khade (50m freestyle), Srihari Nataraj (100m backstroke) and Kushagra Rawat (400m freestyle) are to train at Dubai’s Aqua Nation Swimming Academy from the first week of next month. “It will be a 60-day camp in Dubai, but if pools in India don’t open in 60 days, SAI might extend it,” Swimming Federation of India secretary-general Monal Chokshi said.
BASEBALL
Cole posts 20th straight win
Gerrit Cole pitched seven strong innings to win his 20th straight decision and the New York Yankees on Friday remained unbeaten in games played at Yankee Stadium with a 10-3 rout of the slumping Boston Red Sox. Cole (4-0) became the sixth pitcher to win 20 consecutive decisions in baseball history and the first since Jake Arrieta did it for the Chicago Cubs from Aug. 4, 2015, to May 25, 2016. The all-time record is 24 straight decisions by Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell from July 17, 1936, to May 27, 1937, with the New York Giants.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but