WAWRINKA SHOCKED, FEDERER’S PATH TO NO 1 GETS EASIER
ROTTERDAM: Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka blew a one-set lead to fall 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to unfancied Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor in a first-round shock at the Rotterdam Open. The 32-year-old Wawrinka, the 2015 Rotterdam winner, is struggling to regain top form after a pair of summer knee operations.
Roger Federer, who would have met Wawrinka in the quarter-finals, opens against Ahoy Arena, with the Swiss looking to overtake Rafael Nadal and become the oldest-ever world No 1 by reaching the semi-finals.
World No 259 Griekspoor, 21, earned the biggest success of his career as he competed in only his third ATP-level match. “It was a tough day at the office,” Wawrinka said. “I still need a lot of work to get back. There are a lot of ups and downs. Today was not my best day. He played at a great level and deserved to win.”
‘RACIAL SLUR’
NEWYORK:The Association of Tennis Professionals says it has launched an internal investigation after a first-round match between two American players at the New York Open boiled over on the court. The ATP Tour officials say they are reviewing “allegations of racial prejudice” after Ryan Harrison and Donald Young exchanged words in the first set and had to be separated by the chair umpire during a changeover in play on Monday.
The two continued their exchange later on their social media profiles.
CWG TICKET GAFFE
SYDNEY: Tickets for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games opening ceremony have been sent out with the wrong day on them, an error that red-faced Australian organisers admit is embarrassing. Some 14,000 tickets for the showpiece event were printed with Thursday, April 4, when April 4 — the day for the ceremony — is a Wednesday.
Compounding the problems, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported further blunders Wednesday, with weightlifting, table tennis and triathlon tickets sent out with wrong times on them.
The 2018 event will be held in Australia’s Gold Coast in the country’s northeast from April 4 to 15, with thousands of athletes and support staff due to attend.
FIXING BANS SOUGHT
MADRID: Spanish prosecutors are asking for a two-year prison sentence and a six-year football ban for a group of players accused of match-fixing in the Spanish league seven years ago. Former Mexico coach Javier Aguirre is facing the same sentence if found guilty in the case involving clubs Levante and Zaragoza at the end of the 2010-11 season.
Among the more than 30 players accused are Ander Herrera, now with Manchester United, Vicente Iborra of Leicester, Atletico Madrid captain Gabi Fernandez and River Plate captain Leonardo Ponzio. The six-year ban from football would be valid outside of Spain as well. It is unlikely that the accused would face prison time if found guilty because sentences of two years or less are often suspended in Spain.