Serena eliminated by Kvitova
Serena Williams’ appearance in the Western & Southern Open in Mason, Ohio, came to a quick end Tuesday.
Playing in the tournament for the first time since winning the title in 2015, Williams was eliminated by eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova in a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 second-round loss.
Williams also was knocked out in her previous tournament at San Jose State two weeks ago.
Karolina Pliskova moved into the second round by snapping a seven-match losing streak against Agnieszka Radwanska with a 6-3, 6-3 win.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer advanced to the third round with a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Peter Gojowczyk. After a firstround bye, Federer extended his Cincinnati winning streak to 11 matches since losing to Rafael Nadal in the 2013 quarterfinals.
Nick Kyrgios fought off qualifier Denis Kudla for a 6-7 (2), 7-5, 7-6 (9) victory.
Eleventh-seeded David Goffin advanced with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Leonardo Mayer became the first player to reach the third round on the men’s side with a 7-6 (7), 6-4 victory over 16th-seeded Lucas Pouille. Hyeon Chung won the last five games to beat Jack Sock 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Former champions Stan Wawrinka and Svetlana Kuznetsova and former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka have received wild cards for this year’s U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 27.
Gambling is off to a strong start
Sports betting is off and running in New Jersey, with three casinos and two racetracks taking in $40.6 million in wagers in July, the first full month it was legal.
Those figures were part of a report that showed that Hard Rock debuted as Atlantic City’s No. 3 casino in terms of gambling revenue out of the nine casinos in town.
New Jersey won a U.S. Supreme Court case in May clearing the way for all 50 states to offer sports betting if they choose. Since betting began in New Jersey on June 14, more than $57 million in bets have been taken, and additional companies continue to join a rapidly expanding market. College basketball: The Connecticut and Tennessee women plan to face each other during the 2019-20 and 202021 seasons, renewing a rivalry that has been dormant since 2007. WNBA: Courtney Vandersloot hit two free throws with 2.2 seconds left and broke the league’s season assists record with her 237th, helping the Chicago Sky beat the host Minnesota Lynx 91-88 . . ... Jonquel Jones had 27 points and 10 rebounds, and the Connecticut Sun beat the visiting Dallas Wings 96-76 to spoil the head-coaching debut of Taj McWilliams-Franklin . ... Chelsea Gray scored 28 points and Nneka Ogwumike added 18 as the host Los Angeles Sparks beat New York 74-66. Hockey: Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis signed an eight-year deal worth $50 million that keeps him under contract through the 2026-27 season. Soccer: Qatar says a 23-yearold Nepali worker died while helping to build a stadium for the 2022 World Cup in the Arab nation. No cause of death was given.