Sharapova reaches semifinals
Stages solid comeback in Germany following 15-month doping ban
Maria Sharapova won again to move into the Porsche Grand Prix semifinals after beating Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 6-3, 6-4 on Friday in Germany. In her third match following a 15-month doping ban, Sharapova converted five of her six break points.
“I’m really enjoying myself,” she said.
The five-time Grand Slam champion will next face Kristina Mladenovic of France, who overcame Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-3, 6-2.
Last year’s runner up and home favorite, Laura Siegemund, upset secondseeded Karolina Pliskova 76 (3), 5-7, 6-3 in a match that lasted over three hours.
The wild card from Stuttgart next faces the fourth-seeded Simona Halep, who progressed against Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-3, 6-1. Mladenovic ousted two-time defending champion Angelique Kerber on Thursday and is one of several players who has criticized Sharapova for her doping violation, but the Russian said she will not use it as added motivation in their semifinal on Saturday.
“I’m not someone that uses that as part of my comeback,” Sharapova said of comments against her from her peers, adding she prefers her tennis do her talking. “My results have spoken for everything that I should speak for. And that’s all that matters. The biggest part of my comeback is what’s out on the court and I will leave it at that.”
Andy Murray came n from behind to beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4) and reach the Barcelona Open semifinals. Ramos-Vinolas had chances to beat Murray for the second straight time, but the top-ranked British player controlled the decisive points to close out the match in three hours. Murray will next face fourthseeded Dominic Thiem of Austria, who defeated lucky loser Yuichi Sugita of Japan 6-1, 6-2.
Ilie Nastase responded n to the backlash from his comments about Serena Williams and his Fed Cup outburst, saying his remarks about the pregnant tennis great were “spontaneous” and his tirade inexcusable. The 70-year-old tennis Nastase posted a statement on Facebook a week after he speculated about the skin color of the baby Williams is expecting.
Basketball
Ken Sears, a two-time West Coast Conference player of the year for Santa Clara in the 1950s, has died. Sears, 83, passed away Sunday in his hometown of Watsonville. With Sears at forward, the Broncos went to the NCAA Tournament three times, reaching the Final Four in 1952.As a senior in 1955, he averaged 22.3, second best in school history. He ended his career as SCU’s all-time leading scorer (1,586) and currently ranks 12th.
Motor sports
Matt Kenseth won the pole position for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway. The 2003 series champion needed only four laps in three rounds of qualifying, outrunning final-round qualifiers like Joey Logano, who was fastest in each of the first two rounds, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who made it to the final round, but will start 12th.
Formula One leader n Sebastian Vettel recovered after a spin in the first practice session and set the fastest time of the day ahead of this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix. Vettel set a time of 1 minute, 34.120 seconds in the second session. That was .263 seconds faster than Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen and 0.670 seconds ahead of the first Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas. Lewis Hamilton was further back.
Helio Castroneves took n the pole position for the Verizon IndyCar race at windy Phoenix International Raceway.
Golf
Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith posted a 10-under 62 in Friday’s four-ball format to move into the lead at the Zurich Classic in Avondale, Louisiana, which is in its first year of a new team format. Blixt and Smith have a two-day total of 15-under 129 to lead by one over Patrick Reed and Patrick Cantlay. The K.J Choi-Charlie Wi and Troy Merritt-Robert Streb pairings are tied for third at 13-under.
Haru Nomura shot a 6under n 65 for a two-round total of 133 and a one-shot lead in the North Texas LPGA Shootout. Ariya Jutanugarn is second following a 67 with Suzann Pettersen another shot behind. Moriya Jutanugarn, Ariya’s older sister, is fourth at 136 along with two-time tournament winner Inbee Park and Marina Alex. Lexi Thompson shot a 72.
Soccer
The sprawling American investigation of bribery and corruption in international soccer has reached into Asia and claimed the first guilty plea from a senior official in the new FIFA leadership. A member of FIFA’s Audit and Compliance Committee, Richard Lai of Guam, was provisionally suspended by the football organization’s ethics committee after admitting taking about $1 million in bribes.
Jozy Altidor scored n two goals as Toronto FC, defeated the Houston Dynamo 2-0.