Alex Bogomolov Jr unexpectedly found himself in the spotlight at the Hall of Fame Championships on Wednesday, upsetting fifth-seeded Arnaud Clement of France 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round of the rain-hampered event.
Playing in the one of the few mid-afternoon matches, Bogomolov beat Clement in front of an unusually large crowd on a side court.
Heavy rain halted the only three matches that were played on Tuesday. Despite bright sunshine, center court and one of the two side courts were still soggy on Wednesday.
PHOTO: EPA
Officials were unable to get center court in playable condition despite spending most of the day trying.
In other opening-round matches, third-seeded Sam Querrey of the US beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 6-3, 6-2, Nicholas Mahut of France beat American Amer Delic 6-4, 6-4, while sixth-seeded Philipp Petzschner of Germany defeated Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-2 in a match that started on Tuesday.
Two-time defending champion Fabrice Santoro of France had his match against Italy’s Flavio Cipolla halted by rain at 3-3 in the first set.
■BUDAPEST GRAND PRIX
AP, BUDAPEST
Shahar Peer of Israel upset defending champion Alize Cornet of France in straight sets in the second round of the Budapest GDF Suez Grand Prix on Wednesday.
Peer jumped ahead 5-1 in the first set before losing her serve, but did not allow Cornet much of a comeback and quickly closed out the set 6-2. The second set was even more lopsided and ended 6-0.
In today’s quarter-final, Peer will face sixth-seeded Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine who defeated Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Also in the second round, Romania’s Edina Gallovits upset third-seeded Sybille Bammer of Austria 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Bammer won the first set as expected and was up 2-0 in the second when Gallovits won three games in a row.
In the decisive set, Gallovits played more consistently and forced her opponent to commit more errors.
Gallovits will play qualifier Petra Martic of Croatia, who beat Ukraine’s Maria Koryttseva 6-3, 6-2.
In the only first round match played on Wednesday, top-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland defeated Andrea Petkovic of Germany 7-6 (7/3), 6-1.
Schnyder’s next opponent will be Italy’s Maria Elena Camerin.
■SWEDISH OPEN
AP, BASTAD, SWEDEN
Gisela Dulko of Argentina saved four match points in ousting fifth-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5) to reach the Swedish Open quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Dulko saved three match points at 5-3 down in the last set and another when Cirstea served for the second-round match at 5-4.
The Argentine, who upset Maria Sharapova in the second round at Wimbledon, ultimately overcame Cirstea in the tie-breaker.
Dulko will meet second-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, who defeated Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.
Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki was also a comfortable winner, 6-4, 6-2 over Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.
Third-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy cruised past Masa Zec Peskiric of Slovenia for the loss of three games, while seventh-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain conceded only five against Ellen Allgurin.
An “outstanding” 17-year-old Chinese badminton player died of cardiac arrest after collapsing on court during a tournament in Indonesia, officials said yesterday. Zhang Zhijie was playing a match late Sunday against Japan’s Kazuma Kawano at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The score was 11-11 in the first game when Zhang fell to the floor between points. The teenager received treatment at the venue and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, but passed away later that night after repeated efforts to resuscitate him failed. “Medical conclusions ... indicated that the victim experienced sudden cardiac arrest,” Broto Happy, spokesman for
Taiwan will have two pairs vying for the women’s doubles at the Olympic Games’ tennis event in Paris as Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and her older sister Latisha Chan (詹詠然) officially clinched their third straight Olympic berth, the Chinese Taipei Tennis Association said Thursday. According to the association, the International Tennis Federation confirmed Wednesday evening the Chan sisters’ qualification for the event, meaning they will join the duo of Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and Tsao Chia-yi (曹家宜) to compete in the quadrennial sports jamboree. There are 16 entries in each doubles event. Hsieh, ranked No. 2 in the world on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)
Taiwan’s men’s national basketball team is set to upgrade its depth in the paint after signing Brandon Gilbeck of the P.League+’s Formosa Dreamers to a naturalized player’s contract. The 27-year-old big man from the US landed in Taoyuan early on Monday, where he was welcomed by Chinese Taipei Basketball Association deputy secretary-general Chang Cheng-chung. The two signed the deal, which still has to be approved by the Sports Administration and the Ministry of the Interior. Chang said he is confident that “the proceedings would go smoothly.” If approved, Gilbeck would become the third naturalized basketball player in Taiwan, following the New Taipei Kings’ Quincy
ONE GAME LEFT: ‘We 100 percent believe that this is the team,’ Kagiso Rabada said when asked if this team could end South Africa’s long World Cup drought A long, tortuous World Cup title drought is closer than ever to ending for South Africa after a nine-wicket win over first-time semi-finalist Afghanistan at the global T20 World Cup cricket tournament on Wednesday. Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada set the foundations for the lopsided victory with destructive opening bursts of pace bowling to have Afghanistan reeling at 20-4 in the fourth over, and eventually all out for a paltry 56. The South Africans lost just one wicket in pursuit of its first semi-final win at a global men’s limited-overs tournament, with Reeza Hendricks hitting a six and a four on consecutive