Felix out in second round at Marseille
No. 7 seed Felix Auger-aliassime was eliminated in the second round of the Open 13 Provence tournament on Thursday after dropping a 6-4, 6-4 decision to China’s Zhang Zhizhen in Marseille, France.
Zhang, ranked 50th in the world, converted three of four breakpoint opportunities. He took advantage of a mediocre serving performance by the No. 7-seeded Canadian, who won 67 per cent of first-serve points and 42 per cent of second-serve points.
The Canadian women’s water polo team’s first loss at the World Aquatics Championship was a costly one. Italy (3-0) scored a 12-8 win over Canada (2-1) on Thursday to claim first place in Group D and earn a spot into the tournament’s quarterfinals in Doha, Qatar. Canada must now beat New Zealand in a round-of-16 game on Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals. Canada needs a top-two finish to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Dallas Stars forward Mason Marchment was fined US$5,000 Thursday for interference on Toronto’s Jake Mccabe after a sequence in Wednesday’s game left the Leafs defenceman bloodied.
The play occurred in the second period of Toronto’s 5-4 win when Marchment caught Mccabe with a late hit. The incident wasn’t penalized by on-ice officials.
Minnesota Wild GM and three-time U.S. Olympian Bill Guerin will oversee the building of the U.S. teams competing in the NHL’S 4 Nations Face-off tournament next year and the 2026 Winter Games, USA Hockey announced Thursday.
The hiring of Guerin as GM is a carry-over from three years ago, when he was tabbed as the U.S. Olympic team GM before having to relinquish the role after the NHL decided against players competing at the 2022 Games due to the pandemic.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. won a record $19.9 million in salary arbitration on Wednesday when a three-person panel picked his request rather than the Toronto Blue Jays’ $18.05-million offer. Guerrero topped the previous high awarded from a hearing: the $14 million Seattle outfielder Teoscar Hernandez received after he lost last year.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said he would be disappointed if the Athletics don’t open their proposed Las Vegas ballpark at the start of the 2028 season and expressed skepticism about big leaguers appearing in that year’s Olympics.
The A’s announced a deal on May 15 to build a ballpark on the Tropicana hotel site along the Las Vegas Strip and obtained $380 million in Nevada government financing on June 15. The team has said it hopes to move into a new stadium in 2028.