Sweden’s Patrik Rosenholm stunned defending champion Gael Monfils 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Swedish Open.
The Frenchman appeared to be held back by a knee problem that sidelined him for several months this year as he dropped the last set to the Swede, ranked world No. 436.
Earlier on Tuesday, Lleyton Hewitt advanced by beating Kevin Anderson of South Africa 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus was down 3-1 in the first set, but rallied to beat David Goffin of Belgium 6-4, 6-2, and Spain’s Feliciano Lopez hit 26 aces as he defeated Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (4/7), 6-2 .
Erste Bank Open
AP, VIENNA
Grega Zemlja of Slovenia rallied to defeat Xavier Malisse of Belgium 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) on Tuesday in the first round of the Erste Bank Open. Zemlja failed to serve out the match at 6-5 in the third set, but converted his second match point in the tie breaker against the eighth-seeded Malisse, who reached the quarter-finals last year.
Paolo Lorenzi of Italy beat No. 7 Benoit Paire of France 6-4, 6-4. None of the three seeded players in action so far reached the second round after No. 6 Robin Haase lost his opener on Monday.
Jesse Levine of the US defeated Lukasz Kubot of Poland 6-3, 6-4, and Daniel Brands of Germany beat Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3.
Tallon Griekspoor on Friday stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in the second round at Indian Wells, avenging a devastating loss to the German at Roland Garros last year. Zverev, the world No. 2 who is heading the field of the prestigious ATP Masters event with No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month drugs ban, is the first Indian Wells men’s top seed to lose his opening match since Andy Murray in 2017. It was a cherished win for Griekspoor, who had lost five straight matches — including four last year — to the German. That included a five-setter
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Manchester United on Thursday settled for a 1-1 draw with Real Sociedad in the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 tie. United led on Joshua Zirkzee’s goal in the 58th minute, but the hosts equalized 12 minutes later after Bruno Fernandes’ hand ball and Mikel Oyarzabal sent Andre Onana the wrong way from the penalty spot. The Europa League could be a way for United to finish the season with a trophy after crashing out of the FA Cup on Sunday. A spot in the quarter-finals is to be on the line at Old Trafford in the second leg on Thursday next
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
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