Off the wire

Compiled from Democrat-Gazette Press Services

BASEBALL

Ramirez to return

The Cleveland Indians expect third baseman Jose Ramirez to return to their lineup Tuesday night after missing a month with a broken right hand. Ramirez hasn’t played since Aug. 24 when he was injured taking a swing. The two-time All-Star had surgery for a broken hamate bone. The Indians expected him to miss five to seven weeks. Manager Terry Francona said Sunday that Ramirez hasn’t experienced any soreness in the hand after taking batting practice in recent days. Ramirez is hitting .254 with 20 home runs and 75 RBI in 126 games. The Indians are off today.

TENNIS Medvedev takes title

Daniil Medvedev continued his storming run of form by beating Borna Coric 6-3, 6-1 to win the St. Petersburg Open final in St. Petersburg, Russia. On a run of playing in five consecutive finals including his U.S. Open defeat to Rafael Nadal, the Russian never faced a break point against Coric — even though the Croatian had won all four of their previous meetings on hard courts. The fourth-ranked Medvedev moves to 6-6 in career finals, while Coric is now 2-4 after his first final in 11 months. Since the start of last month, Medvedev has won in Cincinnati and St. Petersburg. Besides the U.S. Open, he lost finals in Montreal and Washington, D.C.

Collins tops Venus

American Danielle Collins beat seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams 7-5, 7-6 (5) on Sunday in the opening round of the Wuhan Open in Wuhan, China. Williams controlled the match early, going up 5-3 in the first set before dropping nine games in a row. A major turning point occurred when Williams failed to convert two set points while up 5-4 in the first. After falling behind 0-5 in the second set, Williams stormed back to force the tie-break, which Collins won 7-5. Collins will next play defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, who defeated fellow Belarussian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1, 6-2 in the pair’s first meeting.