Serena prevails in Ohio, Murray falls
Serena Williams bounced back from the most lopsided loss of her career, cruising past Darla Gavrilova 6-1, 6-2 at the Western & Southern Open yesterday in Mason, Ohio.
Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam winner and a former champion in Cincinnati, needed just 65 minutes to dispatch Gavrilova. She’ll face eighthseeded Petra Kvitova in today’s second round.
Williams lost to Johanna Konta 6-1, 6-0 in San Jose, California, before withdrawing from last week’s Rogers Cup in Montreal.
Earlier Monday, Andy Murray lost to Lucas Pouille 6-1, 1-6, 6-4, clearing another obstacle for Roger Federer in this U.S. Open tuneup.
Top-seeded Rafael Nadal dropped out late Sunday night to prepare for the U.S. Open after winning his fifth title of the year in Toronto.
Murray had his best result since missing 11 months following hip surgery when he reached the quarterfinals in Washington two weeks ago. But he had a hard time adjusting to the Cincinnati courts.
“The start of the match was not good,” he said. “It was a pretty bad first set. After that, it was a little better.”
Federer, seeded second, has won in Cincinnati a record seven times but hasn’t played here since winning in 2015. In 2016, he had a knee injury, and in 2017 he had back problems.
“Cincinnati has always been a good tournament for me,” said Federer, the reigning Australian Open champion. “I was sad not to play here last year, and two years ago there wasn’t a chance. I’m glad to be back.”
Even with the top-ranked Nadal missing, Federer liked the strength of this field, especially with Murray and Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic having recovered from injuries.
Colorado St. coach in hospital
Colorado State football coach Mike Bobo has been hospitalized to undergo a medical evaluation after experiencing numbness in his feet.
Bobo said in a statement yesterday that he’s “very encouraged by the test results to this point and hope to have some answers soon.”
But he gave no indication about how long he might be away from football.
His coaching staff is running practices in his absence.
Dixon signs extension with Ganassi
IndyCar Series leader Scott Dixon has signed a contract extension with Chip Ganassi that will likely take the four-time champion through the end of his career.
Dixon is in his 17th season driving for Ganassi. His career began in 2000 with PacWest Racing, but the team ran out of money three races into the 2002 season and Dixon was picked up by Ganassi. His tenure is the longest of any Ganassi driver.
The New Zealand native has won the Indianapolis 500, his 44 career victories trail only A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti on the all-time win list. At 38, he’s leading the series in pursuit of his fifth IndyCar title. Dixon has three wins this season and leads Alexander Rossi by 46 points in the standings.