TENNIS

Back on court, Roger Federer won his first match since claiming his 18th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.

The third-seeded Federer beat Benoit Paire 6-1, 6-3 Monday to move into the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Federer, a seven-time Dubai champion who holds a 48-5 record in 13 appearances, missed last year’s tournament with a knee injury.

Federer was cheered as he walked on court. He maintains a home in Dubai and is viewed as a part-time local in the city.

In other action, Philipp Kohlschreiber beat eighth-seeded Gilles Muller 6-4, 7-6 (1) and sixth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut defeated Karen Khachanov 6-1, 7-6 (4).

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BASKETBALL

WNBA: Six-time WNBA All-Star Taj McWilliams-Franklin has been named an assistant coach for the Dallas Wings.

The Wings open training camp on April 23.

In addition to playing overseas, McWilliams-Franklin played 14 WNBA seasons, making the playoffs nine times and winning championships with the Washington Mystics in 2008 and the Minnesota Lynx in 2011

GOLF

PGA: A treasure trove of memorabilia accumulated by Arnold Palmer during his Hall of Fame career is leaving his Pennsylvania hometown of Latrobe and hitting the road.

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Alistair Johnson of Arnold Palmer Enterprises said the collection will be on display at the Bay Hill Invitational in Orlando, Florida, when the PGA Tour makes its annual stop at the Palmer-owned course March 16-19.

Palmer won seven majors in his career. He died in September at age 87.

SOCCER

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: For the fourth time in his career, striker Francis Kone rushed to the rescue on the soccer field to help save someone’s life.

The Togo international jumped into action on Saturday when the opposing goalkeeper in a Czech league match was lying motionless after a collision with a teammate.

Kone, who plays for Czech club Slovacko, reacted quickly and was able to stop Bohemians goalkeeper Martin Berkovec from swallowing his tongue, allowing him to breathe freely.

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After the match, Kone revealed it was the fourth time he had been able to help in such circumstances following two incidents in Africa and one in Thailand.

U.S. MEN, U-20: Erik Palmer-Brown scored on a 6-yard header off Brooks Lennon’s corner kick in the 29th minute to lift the United States to a 1-0 victory over Mexico in the second round of qualifying for the Under-20 World Cup at Tibas, Costa Rica.

HOCKEY

YOUTH: Prosecutors in Buffalo, New York, are looking at former NHL player Andrew Peters’ role in an on-ice brawl involving the youth hockey team he coaches in Buffalo.

After the game, the 36-year-old Peters was suspended from coaching Buffalo’s 15-and-under team.

AUTO RACING

FORMULA ONE: Finland’s Valtteri Bottas impressed in his debut drive for world champion Mercedes as the new Formula One preseason got under way at Montmelo, Spain.

Bottas outworked the rest of the field with 79 laps during the morning session, and also owned the fastest time until Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel bettered Bottas’ best effort by 0.378 seconds.


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