Tsitsipas sweeps Rublev at Monte Carlo Masters
Stefanos Tsitsipas won the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco without dropping a set, beating Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday for his first title this year and sixth overall.
Fourth-seeded Tsitsipas was in dominant form as he edged 4-3 ahead of the sixth-seeded Russian in their career meetings, having also beaten him on clay last year in the French Open quarterfinals.
The 22-year-old Greek won his last title in February last year at the Open 13 indoor tournament in Marseille — just weeks before France went into lockdown for the first time because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The 23-year-old Rublev was aiming for his second title of the year, his first at Masters level and ninth overall. He had produced an audacious display to defeat record 11-time champion Rafael Nadal on Friday, and further confirm why he is one of the rising stars of tennis.
After winning the ATP Cup with Russia, Rublev reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and then won the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam last month for his fourth title in seven months. Since then, he’s reached four straight semifinals, includin fMonte Carlo.
Elsewhere: Roger
●
Federer will play at the French Open, and the
Swiss star is preparing for it on home clay at a tournament in Geneva next month. The 20-time Grand Slam champion will aim for his 104th career title at the Geneva Open, which takes place May 16-22 — shortly before Roland Garros begins in Paris on May 30. The 39-year-old Federer won his only French Open in 2009 and lost to 13-time champion Rafael Nadal in
the semis two years ago.
ETC.
College baseball: Tony
● Jenkins delivered the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the ninth to push the University of Miami to 3-2 victory over Clemson and a sweep of the weekend series. The Canes were led by Dominic Pitelli and
Alex Toral who had five RBI
each in the series. UM won Friday’s game 12-3 and Saturday 10-2.
Soccer: Defending
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champion Paris SaintGermain scored in the last seconds of injury time to beat Saint-Etienne 3-2 and close the gap on league leader Lille to one point. PSG had just gifted SaintEtienne an equalizer in the second minute of injury time when Mauro Icardi rose to head home Angel Di Maria’s cross three minutes later as the substitutes combined to give PSG a much-needed victory. There are only five games left after this weekend in one of the closest title races for many years. Rival Monaco won 3-0 at struggling Bordeaux to stay one point behind PSG and keep hold of third place.
... Angel Correa and Marcos Llorente scored two goals each as Atletico Madrid routed last-place Eibar 5-0 to end its winless run and stay top in the Spanish league. Yannick Carrasco also scored to help give Atletico the win after two consecutive setbacks that had allowed Real Madrid and Barcelona to close the gap. The victory moved Atletico four points ahead of second-place Madrid.
... Erling Haaland ended his four-game scoreless run to help Borussia Dortmund beat Werder Bremen 4-1 and cut the distance to the Bundesliga’s Champions League qualification spots. ... The goal scored by Kelechi Iheanacho didn’t just send Leicester into a first FA Cup final since 1969. It was the first to be cheered by spectators at Wembley in more than a year. Not since March
2020 had fans been allowed into English stadiums through three national lockdowns.
Cycling: Wout van
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Aert beat Tom Pidcock in a photo finish at the Amstel Gold Race at Valkenburg, Netherlands, while Marianne Vos accelerated away from Demi Vollering and Annemiek van Vleuten from a reduced bunch to win the women’s edition. Van Aert joined Pidcock and Max Schachmann in a breakaway over the famed Cauberg climb with about six miles left in the race, and the trio began jockeying for the lead with 300 feet to go.