France's Marc Gicquel upset second-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the opening round of the 659,000 euro (US$929,190) Lyon Grand Prix on Monday.
The 30-year-old Gicquel avenged a loss in his only other meeting against Robredo, in August just before the US Open, and beat an opponent ranked in the ATP's top 10 for the first time in six tries.
"I tried to be aggressive, to get my points at the net. It paid," said Gicquel, who reached his only singles final in an ATP event last year in Lyon.
US player Mardy Fish also scored a first-round upset, beating seventh-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
In other matches, France's Julien Benneteau defeated countryman Edouard Roger-Vasselin, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, and another Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Vincent Spadea of the US 6-3, 6-4.
Alona Bondarenko beat Martina Muller of Germany 6-3, 6-0 on Monday in the first round of the Generali Ladies.
The 23rd-ranked Bondarenko broke her opponent three times in the first set and dropped only four points on serve in the second.
The Ukrainian will next play either seventh-seeded Tatiana Golovin, who reached the final of the Zurich Open on Sunday, or Eleni Daniilidou.
Yvonne Meusburger also advanced, rallying to beat Melanie Klaffner 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-3.
Meusburger led 3-0 before dropping the first set, but then dominated her 17-year-old opponent in the final two sets.
Ernests Gulbis upset eighth-seeded Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-2, 6-1 on Monday in the first round of the St. Petersburg Open.
The 47th-ranked Latvian capitalized on Johansson's double-faults in the first and the fifth games of the first set, and won four consecutive games in the second. He finished with 11 aces.
"I know him well, we practice together. He hasn't played even to 50 percent of his potential today," Gulbis said.
Fifth-seeded Dmitry Tursunov also advanced, beating Jurgen Melzer of Austria 7-6 (6), 7-6 (0).
Boris Pashanski of Serbia defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4, and Denis Matsukevitch of Russian beat qualifier Igor Kunitsyn 7-6 (2), 6-3.
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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CUNNINGHAM CONNECTS: In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons snapped their record 15-game playoff losing streak by beating the Knicks to level their series at 1-1 Kawhi Leonard on Monday scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the Los Angeles Clippers evened their first-round NBA Playoffs series against the Nuggets with a 105-102 win in Denver. “It feels like he didn’t miss a shot,” James Harden said. “His shot-making ability is elite.” Good thing, too, because his teammates were a combined 26 of 66 for a 39 percent clip. “I made shots tonight,” Leonard said. “I just keep playing, try to stay in the zone no matter if I’m making or missing shots.” The fifth-seeded Clippers needed every bit of his brilliance to snatch the homecourt advantage in the series
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