Djokovic reaches semifinals at Monte Carlo for first time since ’15

MONACO » Novak Djokovic is back in the semifinals at the Monte Carlo Masters for the first time since 2015.

Nine years after he won the last of his two titles at the clay-court tournament, the topranked Serb secured a spot in the last four with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Alex De Minaur on Friday.

“I am very happy to be back in the semis. It has been a while,” Djokovic said. “The past seven, eight years have been tough for me to win seven or eight matches consecutively, but here we are, another semis.”

Djokovic struggled with consistency at the Country Club against his Australian rival and dropped his serve three times. But De Minaur, who made Djokovic work and run a lot with his solid baseline game, had even more trouble with his serve.

Djokovic will next take on clay-court expert Casper Ruud for a spot in the final. Ruud beat Ugo Humbert of France 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.

Golden Knights’ Stone cleared to return to practice on limited basis

LAS VEGAS » Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone has been cleared to return to practice on a limited basis as he recovers from a lacerated spleen, the team said Friday.

Stone was injured on Feb. 20 after a hit from the Nashville Predators’ Yakov Trenin. He was expected to participate in a noncontact jersey beginning Friday during the team’s morning skate, the team announced on X.

In 56 games this season, Stone has 16 goals and 37 assists for 53 points.

Olympic triple jump champion Rojas tears Achilles

CARACAS, VENEZUELA » Olympic triple jump champion Yulimar Rojas tore her left Achilles tendon and said Friday she will miss this year’s Paris Games.

The 28-year-old Venezuelan said on her Instagram account that she was injured while training in Spain. She said she had surgery in Madrid on Thursday.

“My heart is broken, and I want to apologize for not been able to represent you (Venezuelans) in Paris 2024,” said Rojas, the world record holder in the event.

Osaka, Swiatek, Raducanu win in the Billie Jean King Cup

LONDON » Grand Slam title winners Naomi Osaka, Iga Swiatek and Emma Raducanu all earned victories for their countries in Billie Jean King Cup qualifying Friday.

Osaka hit 15 aces and put Japan a step away from reaching the BJK Cup Finals with a 6-2, 7-6 (5) win over Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva. It was the four-time Grand Slam champion’s first match in the team competition since February 2020.

No. 1-ranked Swiatek and Poland went ahead 2-0 at Switzerland, 2021 U.S. Open champion Raducanu helped Britain finish Day 1 tied 1-1 at France, host Australia took a 2-0 lead over Mexico, and Slovakia was up 2-0 against visiting Slovenia.

Player whipped by fan after Saudi Super Cup final

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES » A fan at the Saudi Super Cup final lashed an Al-Ittihad player with a whip during a confrontation moments after the match Thursday night.

The incident occurred following Al-Ittihad’s 4-1 loss to Al-Hilal in the final played at Abu Dhabi’s Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium.

A video circulating on social media shows striker Abderrazak Hamdallah throwing water from a bottle at the fan, who responds by pulling out a long whip and lashing at the Moroccan twice — appearing to hit the player’s back the second time.

Hamdallah, 33, who had missed a penalty but later scored his team’s only goal during the game, did not appear to be injured.