MEDVEDEV MAKES HIS MARK ON CLAY
hadn’t won a single match in his three previous appearances at the Italian Open.
Now he’s won the tournament.
The Russian beat rising 20-year-old Danish player Holger Rune 7-5, 7-5 on Sunday for the first clay-court trophy of a career that includes the 2021 U.S. Open title and a period at No. 1 in the rankings.
Medvedev was previ- ously known almost exclusively for his prowess on hard courts, with 18 of his previous 19 titles coming on that surface — the other was on grass in Mallorca. But he now must be considered a contender at the French Open — the clay-court Grand Slam — which starts next Sunday.
There’s room for a new champion at Roland Garros after 14-time winner Rafael Nadal announced on Thursday that he won’t be competing in the tournament because of a lingering hip injury that has sidelined him since January.
Rune should also leave the Foro Italico confident for Paris. He was also the runner-up to Andrey Rublev at the Monte Carlo Masters last month and then won a clay title in Munich.
The final started nearly two hours late due to a rain delay — a day after Medvedev’s semifinal win over Stefanos Tsitsipas was interrupted by rain suspensions for a total of nearly 4½ hours.
More tennis
Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray withdrew from the claycourt French Open, organizers said. Play begins there May 28.
Local colleges
UC San Diego baseball was picked to finish eighth in the Big West this season. UCSD coach Eric Newman was neither surprised nor offended. After all, the Tritons finished eighth in the conference a year ago and, in their third season of Division I ball, they remain the new kids on the block.
The Tritons (34-18, 21-9) concluded the season Sunday with a 7-4 victory at UC Riverside that completed a three-game sweep of the Highlanders and clinched at least a share of the Big West championship.
Second-place UC Santa Barbara (35-17, 18-9) will need to sweep its threegame series this week at Hawaii to tie the Tritons.
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Soccer
With an explosion of blueand-white ticker tape, Manchester City’s Premier League title celebrations erupted. That’s three league titles in a row, five out of six and who knows how many more for a team that keeps on reaching new heights? “They’ve set a benchmark that has pulled them apart,” Chelsea manager Frank Lampard said after his team was beaten 1-0 by the newly crowned champions. “I think they’re outstanding ... that’s why they are on for a possible treble.” The first leg of that three-pronged trophy pursuit is complete, with the finals of the FA Cup and Champions League still to come.
The Sam Allardyce experiment looks destined to fail after Leeds’ 3-1 loss at West Ham pushed it to the brink of EPL relegation. Leeds needs to win against Tottenham on the last day of the season and hope that other results go its way to avoid the drop.
Also
The United States routed France 9-0 to keep its perfect record at the ice hockey world championship in Tampere, Finland.
American cyclist Brandon McNulty won the 15th stage of the Giro d’Italia for his first victory in a Grand Tour while Bruno Armirail kept hold of the leader’s pink jersey as the race prepares for a dramatic and decisive final week.
Undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney retained his titles Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, but not without a controversial decision that former threedivision champion Vasiliy Lomachenko’s camp plans on appealing. Lomachenko dominated the latter rounds and outpunched Haney, 124110. But much to the dismay of the 14,436 fans in attendance, all three judges had Haney winning.
San Diego Loyal SC kicked off a three-game road trip with a 3-2 come-frombehind win against Miami FC on Saturday. Evan Conway and Elliot Collier scored while Miami FC gave up an own goal in the USL Championship match.
The Washington Commanders are unlikely to face any penalties stemming from tampering allegations involving retired quarterback Andrew Luck, according to The Washington Post.