Tsitsipas wins third title at Monte Carlo Masters
Stefanos Tsitsipas won his third Rolex Monte Carlo Masters in four years on Sunday, defeating Casper Ruud 6-1, 6-4 in Monaco.
Tsitsipas, the No. 12 seed, was aggressive early on and changed the tenor of the match in the third game of the first set, when he reeled off the first of seven straight game wins. Tsitsipas was helped in the one-hour, 37-minute match by four break points; he saved all eight break chances against him.
He had 23 winners and 12 unforced errors, compared to 17 and 16, respectively, for Ruud, the No. 8 seed. The win was the 11th on tour for Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas defeated three top-10 players — Norway’s Ruud, Alexander Zverev of Germany and Italian
Jannik Sinner — on his way to the championship. Elsewhere: The United States earned a berth in the Billie Jean King Cup final rounds Saturday, as Jessica Pegula and pairs Caroline Dolehide and Taylor Townsend powered their country to a 4-0 victory over Belgium at the Billie Jean King Cup qualifying series at Orlando. The Americans capitalized on a 2-0 lead from the previous day, when world No. 5 Pegula and Emma Navarro each earned wins. On Saturday, Pegula defeated
Hanne Vandewinkel 6-2, 6-0 and then Dolehide and Townsend defeated Belgium’s pair of Marie Benoit and Kimberley Zimmermann 6-3, 6-1. In other action, Great Britain defeated France 3-1 in Le Portel, Japan defeated Kazakhstan 3-1 in Tokyo and Germany beat Brazil 3-1 in Sao Paulo. The event’s final rounds will be held in November at Seville, Spain.
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NBA: Jalen Brunson recorded 40 points, eight rebounds and seven assists and the New York Knicks landed the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference by holding off the visiting Chicago Bulls 120-119 in overtime on Sunday afternoon. A loss to the Orlando Magic by the Milwaukee Bucks aided the Knicks (50-32), who registered their first 50-win season in 24 seasons. Donte DiVincenzo added 25 points for New York. The Bulls (39-43) are the No. 10 se East and will face the No. 9 Atlanta Hawks in the playin round on Wednesday . .... The Brooklyn n a new head coach, with Mike Budenholzer — who led the Milwaukee Bucks to the NBA championship in 2021 — among the candidates, The Athletic reported Saturday. Associate head coaches
Jordi Fernandez of the Sacramento Kings and
Kevin Young of the Phoenix Suns also are on the Nets’ short list to replace
Jacque Vaughn, per the report. The Nets were 21-33 when Vaughn was fired Feb. 19, and interim coach
Kevin Ollie had an 11-17 record as the team lost its season finale against the Philadelphia 76rs on Sunday. Budenholzer, 54, has a 484-317 (.604) record with the Atlanta Hawks (201318) and Bucks (2018-23). He won NBA Coach of the Year awards in 2015 and 2019.
College hockey: Goaltender Matt Davis stopped all 35 shots he faced, including 23 in the third period, to lead Denver to a 2-0 win over Boston College in the men’s ice hockey championship on Saturday evening in Saint
Paul, Minn. Jared Wright and Rieger Lorenz scored one goal apiece for thirdseeded Denver (32-9-3), which won the title for the second time in three seasons and earned its NCAArecord 10th championship. The Pioneers previously were tied with Michigan with nine titles apiece.
NHL: The NHL Sunday fined Boston Bruins defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk $2,734.38 — the maximum allowed for unsportsmanlike conduct under the collective bargaining agreement — for his action with 19:37 left in the first period of the Bruins’ 6-4 victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday night. The Penguins’ Michael Bunting had made contact with the Bruins’ Linus Ullmark, his stick catching the goaltender’s skates and causing him to fall over. Bunting then skated past the Boston bench, where Shattenkirk apparently reached out with his stick and hit Bunting with it.
College basketball: Kylan Boswell is transferring to Illinois, returning to his hometown of Champaign. He spent the past two seasons at Arizona, where in 2023-24, he averaged 9.5 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 37 games (36 starts). Boswell left Champaign after eighth grade, headed out of state to play basketball. Illinois coach Brad Underwood heavily recruited Boswell, a five-star recruit who reclassified to the
2022 class, but the point guard chose Arizona. Illinois finished the 2023-24 season with a 29-9 (14-6 Big Ten) record, losing to eventual champion UConn in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.