Nadal, Williams seek milestones in French Open
Rafael Nadal will begin his bid for a record-extending 13th French Open title against Egor Gerasimov in the first round, while
Serena Williams starts her attempt for a recordequaling 24th major against Kristie Ahn in all-American matchup.
The 34-year-old Nadal, who is seeded second and has never faced the 83rdranked Belarusian, is aiming to equal the absent
Roger Federer’s men’s record of 20 Grand Slam titles. Nadal holds a 93-2 record at Roland Garros.
The sixth-seeded Williams, who turns 39 on Saturday, fell short in her bid to equal Margaret Court’s record at the U.S. Open, losing to Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals. Williams has won the French Open three times, the first in 2002 and the last in 2015.
Thursday’s draw at Roland Garros also pitted top-ranked Novak Djokovic against No. 80 Mikael Ymer of Sweden in their first career meeting.
Elsewhere: Stefanos Tsitsipas powered past
Pablo Cuevas 7-5, 6-4to reach the quarterfinals of the Hamburg European Open and continue his warm-up for the French Open. In a rematch of his only clay-court final win, Tsitsipas saved four break points at 4-4 in the first set and another at 5-5 before breaking Cuevas to take a 1-0 lead. He extended his unbeaten record against the Uruguayan to 3-0. Tsitsipas’ quarterfinal opponent is Dusan Lajovic, who swept past eighthseeded Karen Khachanov 6-1, 6-2. Since the tour restarted, Khachanov has gone four tournaments without making the quarterfinals.
ETC.
Soccer: Javi Martinez is Bayern Munich’s Mr. Super Cup. Seven years after scoring an extra-time goal to help Bayern win its last UEFA Super Cup, Martinez netted the winner in the 104th minute Thursday as the German club beat Sevilla 2-1 in the European curtain raiser in a stadium partially filled with fans at Budapest, Hungary. Bayern midfielder Thomas Muller hailed Martinez as “Mr. Super Cup,” recalling the 2013 goal which sent a game against Chelsea to a penalty shootout which Bayern won. …
AC Milan midfielder
Hakan Calhanoglu scored twice to give his team a 3-2 home victory over Norwegian club Bodo/Glimt in Europa
League qualifying. There were no major upsets as Tottenham, Celtic, Wolfsburg, PSV Eindhoven and Sporting Lisbon all advanced to the playoff round. With Milan star
Zlatan Ibrahimovic sidelined with the coronavirus,
Lorenzo Colombo also scored for the seven-time
European champion, which was banned from UEFA competitions last year after breaching financial fair play rules. …
Liverpool teenager Curtis Jones scored twice in a 7-2 victory over Lincoln in the League Cup, and defending champion Manchester City edged past Bournemouth 2-1. Liverpool advanced to a fourthround meeting with Arsenal, which also plays at Anfield in the Premier League on Monday.
NBA: Lakers legend Kobe Bryant scored 60 points against the Utah
Jazz on April 13, 2016, before declaring “Mamba out!” and calling it a career. Before leaving the Staples Center floor for the final time as a player, Bryant autographed two portions of it — the parts decorated with the two jersey numbers he wore during his career, Nos. 8 and 24. The signed No. 24 portion has been installed at the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo. The signed No. 8 portion is available to the highest bidder through Heritage Auctions.
Golf: Tyler McCumber was the only player to reach 8-under par in the Caribbean breeze until he dropped a shot on his 17th hole and fell into a fourway for the lead in the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship.
Sepp Straka was the only one at 7-under 65 who kept a clean card. He was joined by Hudson Swafford, who made two tough par saves late in his round, and
Scott Harrington, who made bogey on the secondeasiest hole on the Corales course at Puntacana Resort and Club.
Auto racing: Lewis Hamilton has set many Formula One records over the years, but few as significant as the one he can match Sunday at the Russian Grand Prix. Victory for Hamilton at the Sochi Olympic Park would see him draw level with Michael Schumacher on 91 career wins, more than any other driver in the 70-year history of F1. Hamilton has a commanding 55-point lead over teammate Valtteri Bottas in the championship standings, putting him on track for a seventh world championship, which would match another Schumacher record. … IndyCar rookie Oliver Askew will not compete next week in the doubleheader at Indianapolis because of concussion-like symptoms he’s been suffering since he crashed in the Indianapolis 500 last month.
Olympics: Two-time Olympic biathlon champion Olga Zaitseva lost her appeal against disqualification from the 2014 Sochi Olympics for her part in Russia’s state-backed doping program. Zaitseva’s disqualification from all her Sochi events strips Russia of its silver medal in the women’s biathlon 4x6kilometer relay.