Cibulkova wins at New Haven
Second-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia rallied to beat Alize Cornet of France 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the Connecticut Open quarterfinals last night in New Haven, Conn.
Cibulkova will face sixthseeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia today in the U.S. Open tuneup event at The Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale. Pavlyuchenkova beat Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 7-6 (3), 6-0.
Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens set up a quarterfinal against Australia’s Daria Gavrilova, beating Romania’s Ana Bogdan 6-1, 7-6 (1).
China’s Zhang Shuai beat Poland’s Magda Linette 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3, and will face in the quarterfinals Belgium’s Elise Mertens.
In the other quarterfinal, top-seeded defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska will play eighthseeded Shuai Peng. . . .
Boris Becker was hired for the new position of head of men’s tennis by the German tennis federation. The six-time Grand Slam champion will advise all top male players from the country and help its Davis Cup team.
New Clippers GM
After removing Doc Rivers’ title as president of basketball operations earlier this month, the Los Angeles Clippers has reached an agreement with Oklahoma City’s Michael Winger to become their general manager, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.
Winger will reportedly replace Dave Wohl, who is staying with the team as a special adviser. Winger had been an assistant GM and team counsel for the Thunder for the last seven years.
Reds advance
Liverpool sealed its return to the Champions League group stage after a two-season absence by beating visiting Hoffenheim, 4-2, producing a devastating attacking display without star playmaker Philippe Coutinho.
Emre Can scored goals either side of Mo Salah’s tapin as the five-time European champions surged 3-0 ahead after just 21 minutes at Anfield, before Roberto Firmino added a fourth in the second half against his old club.
Liverpool advanced 6-3 on aggregate and will be placed in the pot of third seeds in today’s draw, as England’s fifth representative in Europe’s elite club competition.
Bourdais back in
Sebastien Bourdais will return to IndyCar competition this weekend after a three-month recovery from an accident at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Frenchman fractured his pelvis and right hip during a crash while qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. Bourdais’ rapid recovery gives him his seat back for the final three races of the season, starting Saturday night at Gateway Motorsports Park . . . .
Chris Froome increased his lead in the Spanish Vuelta during a fifth stage won by Alexey Lutsenko of Kazakhstan.
Froome increased his two-second race lead over Tejay van Garderen to 10 seconds . . . .
Joe Klein, who was a general manager for three Major League Baseball teams before spending the last two decades as executive director of the independent Atlantic League, died at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia after complications from heart surgery. He was 75.