Rublev outlasts Djokovic for Serbia Open title
Andrey Rublev defeated Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-0 to win the Serbia Open in Belgrade for his third title of the season on Sunday.
The second-seeded Russian player dug deep to stop Djokovic from mounting another comeback as he prevented the topranked Serb from claiming his first title of 2022.
Rublev, 24, looked fitter in their third set as he closed out the win in 2 hours, 24 minutes.
Djokovic, who is 10 years older than Rublev, appeared affected by the effort he put in to level the match in the second-set tiebreaker.
Djokovic had already came back from a set down in each of his three matches at his hometown tournament, defeating Laslo Djere, Miomir Kecmanovic and Karen Khachanov on his way to the final in what were only his fifth, sixth and seventh matches of the year.
• Exactly 17 years ago, an 18-year-old Rafael Nadal was starting to attract the attention of the tennis world by winning the Barcelona Open and making it to the top 10 for the first time.
Carlos Alcaraz followed in the footsteps of his hero, also winning his first Barcelona title and cracking the top 10 men's rankings for the first time at the same age.
Alcaraz continued his impressive run by beating Pablo Carreno Busta in straight sets for his third title of the season, winning the all-Spanish match 6-3, 6-2 after having made it to the final a few hours earlier in a semifinal game postponed from Saturday because of rain.
“It means a lot,” Alcaraz said.
“I've watched this tournament since I was a kid. I always wished to play in this tournament and of course to be able to win this tournament. I'm really, really happy to be part of the Spanish history list.”
Alcaraz was guaranteed to move into the top 10 after reaching the semifinals. He will be No. 9 when the new rankings come out on today, making him the youngest player in the top 10 since Nadal made it after lifting his first Barcelona trophy in 2005.
Like Nadal then, Alcaraz came into the tournament as the 11thranked player in the world. A record 21-time Grand Slam winner, Nadal never dropped out of the top 10 since then.
The victory at the Rafa Nadal center court in Barcelona capped a long day for Alcaraz, who needed 3 hours, 39 minutes to rally past Alex de Minaur 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4 in their semifinal match in the morning.
Carreno Busta, 30, ranked 19th and seeking his seventh title on tour, beat Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour, 39 minutes in his semifinal Sunday.
• Top-ranked Iga Swiatek defeated Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 6-2 in the final of the Stuttgart Open in Germany for her fourth title of the year.
The Polish player stretched her winning run to 23 matches by beating last year's finalist in her own tournament debut in 1 hour 24 minutes. Swiatek has won her last seven finals in straight sets.
Swiatek previously won in Doha, Indian Wells and Miami.
Duke basketball team loses 5th player to draft in week
Duke freshman A.J. Griffin is heading to the NBA, becoming the fifth Blue Devils player in the past week to declare early for the draft.
The school announced Griffin's decision Sunday, the last day for players to declare themselves eligible for the NBA draft.
Duke said the 6-foot-6, 222-pound wing regarded as a potential lottery draft pick plans to hire an agent.
Griffin is ranked as ESPN's No. 8 draft prospect.
He averaged 10.4 points while providing size, outside shooting and defensive potential to the wing for the Blue Devils.
Los Alamitos puts down mare after racing injury
A horse died after suffering a racing injury at Los Alamitos Race Course, state regulators confirmed Sunday — one month after officials said the Cypress track had taken a series of steps aimed at improving safety following a spate of four horse deaths in an 11-day span.
Scream and Shout, a 5-yearold mare, was injured during the fourth race Saturday night at Los Alamitos, requiring euthanasia, California Horse Racing Board spokesman Mike Marten said.
Scream and Shout was appearing in her first race on Saturday. She was owned by Rakoczy Racing LLC and Saratoga West and trained by Jeffrey Metz. Her jockey was Ricardo Ramirez.
Before Saturday, the most recent death at the track occurred March 23, when an un-raced colt named See You At Front suffered a leg injury while galloping during training.
According to the CHRB, Los Alamitos has eliminated the use of “high toe grabs” — similar to cleats worn by football players to give them better traction on turf — on rear horseshoes. The track also eliminated the “breaking bar” in quarter-horse races. The bar is similar to a starting block in track meets, adding traction at the start of a race.
The track is also consulting with a racing surface expert to determine if the track surface is a contributing factor to recent injuries, and it has contacted UC Davis to “fund a study of lumbar fractures in quarter horses,” CHRB officials said.
According to the CHRB, a lumbar — or back — fracture led to the March 19 death of a 3-yearold filly named Fastidious, who pulled up during a Los Alamitos race before reaching the finish.
Wednesday's death of See You At Front and the March 20 death of Stolen Lives after a race were both the result of euthanasia due to lower leg injuries, according to the CHRB.
The March 12 death of a mare named Ballet Royalty, who collapsed after a race, was attributed to “sudden death,” with a necropsy pending.
A fifth horse — Big Fabuloso, a 4-year-old gelding — died after suffering an injury while racing at the track on Jan. 8.
Eleven horses died from racing or training injuries at Los Alamitos in 2021, and the track was briefly placed on probation by the CHRB in July 2020 due to another spate of racehorse deaths. At that time, at least 20 horses had died at the track in 2020 after suffering racing or training injuries.