TENNIS
Hsieh Su-wei advances
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic defeated sisters Latisha Chan and Chan Hao-ching at the Madrid Open yesterday. Hsieh and Strycova won 1-6, 6-2, 10-3 against their Taiwanese opponents, setting up a round-of-16 match on Wednesday against Indonesia’s Aldila Sutjiadi and Miyu Kato of Japan, who advanced after Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australian Ellen Perez retired with the score at 6-2, 4-1. In the women’s singles, world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka booked her place in the fourth round with an entertaining 6-4, 7-5 win over Camila Osorio. Sabalenka, who beat Osorio comfortably at Wimbledon in 2021 in their only other meeting, struggled early, but regained her composure to take the first set and the match.
BASEBALL
Giants manager gets lost
San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler got lost on the way to training in Mexico City on Friday ahead of their two-day series against the San Diego Padres. He took the subway from the team’s hotel in the Polanco, an upscale part of Mexico City, to Alfredo Harp Helu Stadium ahead of the series opener, but got lost on the way. He had some tacos and coffee at about 2pm, then got directions to the ballpark from his iPad, he said. “Obviously there [were] no other English speakers on the train, but there’s some sort of notification and everybody spilled off the train like six stops before I needed to get off,” Kapler said. Apparently, subway maintenance meant the rail service stopped there. “I figured that that was some sort of normal procedure, but I wasn’t ready for it. So I kind of followed the herd and then ended up in a line for buses. And then I ended up on a bus,” Kapler said. He was the last member of the Giants to arrive to the stadium.
CYCLING
Trek-Segafredo cut Tiberi
The Trek-Segafredo team have “parted ways” with Italian Antonio Tiberi a couple of months after suspending the former junior world champion for allegedly killing his neighbor’s cat by shooting it with an air rifle. The team suspended Tiberi in February for 20 days over the incident and on Friday they cut ties with the 21-year-old altogether. “Trek-Segafredo and Antonio Tiberi have mutually agreed to part ways, effective immediately, after the rider’s actions during his suspension did not meet our criteria for a return to competition,” the team said in a statement. The cat had belonged Federico Pedini Amati, a minister in the San Marino government and a former head of state. Tiberi last month apologized for the incident in an Instagram post.
SOCCER
Dortmund’s hopes dented
Borussia Dortmund’s Bundesliga title hopes were dealt a blow on Friday against VfL Bochum 1848 after a 1-1 draw. Bochum goalkeeper Manuel Riemann helped gain his team an important point in their battle against relegation, but Dortmund missed the chance to build a four-point lead before Bayern Munich play today. Bayern can reclaim the lead with four games remaining if they beat last-placed Hertha BSC in Munich.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
Liverpool on Tuesday suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers as Andre’s stoppage-time strike sealed a dramatic victory for the English Premier League’s bottom club. Arne Slot’s side fell behind to Rodrigo Gomes’ strike in the closing stages at Molineux. Mohamed Salah hauled Liverpool level with his first goal in 11 top-flight games dating back to November last year. However, Andre’s first goal for Wolves inflicted the latest humbling loss in a chastening season for Liverpool. It was the first time the Premier League’s bottom club had beaten the reigning champions since Crystal Palace defeated Chelsea in 2017. Liverpool
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
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