Kerber ousts local favourite Osaka at Pan-Pacific Open

TOKYO — Seventh-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany beat local favourite Naomi Osaka 6-3, 6-4 on Monday to advance to the second round of the PanPacific Open.

The victory was additionally sweet for Kerber, who was looking for revenge after the Japanese teenager knocked her out of the U.S. Open in straight sets.

Osaka lost to Caroline Wozniacki in the final of last year’s tournament

Kerber will play either Madison Brengle or Daria Kasatkina in the next round.

Also, wild card Kurumi Nara of Japan overcame a slow start to oust Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, while China’s Wang Qiang beat Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-0, 6-0.

NEW YoRK

Giancarlo Stanton’s smacks, Aaron Judge’s jolts and all those dizzying long balls helped Major League Baseball move another poke closer to the inevitable.

Nearly two decades after the height of the Steroids Era, the sport is on track to break its season record for home runs on Tuesday — and not just top the old mark, but smash it like one of those upper-deck shots that have become commonplace in the Summer of the Slugger.

There were 5,663 home runs hit through Sunday, 30 shy of the record set in 2000.

Juiced balls? Watered-down pitching? Stanton’s renaissance? Sensational starts by Judge and Cody Bellinger?

“I don’t think that we are ever going to have a single explanation for exactly why we’ve see so many,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “But players are bigger and stronger. They’re playing a little differently, in terms of the way they swing. Pitchers throw harder. The one thing I remain comfortable with: nothing about the baseball, according to our testing, is materially different.”

There were 5,610 homers last year, an average of 2.31 per game, and this year’s average of 2.53 projects to 6,143. That would be up 47 per cent from 4,186 in 2014.

In just three years, home runs will have increased by 1,957 — an