TENNIS
Maria Sharapova says she is pregnant.
The five-time Grand Slam tennis champion, who retired from the sport in February 2020, delivered the news via a social media post on Tuesday – her 35th birthday.
“Precious beginnings!!!” Sharapova wrote, adding: “Eating birthday cake for two has always been my specialty.”
She announced her engagement to Alexander Gilkes in December 2020.
STUTTGART OPEN : American Coco Gauff was knocked out in the first round after a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Daria Kasatkina at Stuttgart, Germany.
Kasatkina next faces the seventh-seeded Ons Jabeur, who defeated Marketa Vondrousova 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
BARCELONA OPEN: Second-seeded Casper Ruud defeated American Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 6-2 to reach the third round.
Ruud, seeking his second title of the season after winning in Argentina in February, broke serve four times to comfortably get past his 81st-ranked opponent.
Sixth-seeded Diego Schwartzman of Argentina defeated American Mackenzie McDonald 6-2, 6-2 to set up a rematch against Lorenzo Musetti, who advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (8) win over 12th-seeded Daniel Evans.
ISTANBUL CHAMPIONSHIP: Defending champion Sorana Cirstea won her opening match, beating Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia 6-4, 6-1.
The second-seeded Cirstea next faces Dutch player Arantxa Rus at the the clay-court competition.
Third-seeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia also advanced to the second round with a 6-2, 6-0 win over compatriot Marina Melnikova.
SERBIA OPEN: John Millman tainted Dominic Thiem’s return from injury by beating the Austrian 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the first round.
Thiem was playing his first tour-level match since injuring his right wrist last June, and the former world No. 3 showed some signs of encouragement before Millman prevailed in just over 2 1/2 hours.
The 80th-ranked Australian broke in the 10th game of the third set to reach the second round where he will play Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic. It was the 32-year-old Millman’s first win in four matches against Thiem.
AUTO RACING
INDYCAR: Beth Paretta made a deal to run three races on this season’s schedule, and perhaps more, in lieu of the Indianapolis 500.
Paretta made the announcement at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the same venue she announced the formation of her all-female team and the same venue it became such a compelling story last May while working with series powerhouse Team Penske.
Swiss driver Simona de Silvestro will again pilot the No. 16 Chevrolet but this time Paretta Autosport will be working with Ed Carpenter Racing on June 12 at Road America in Wisconsin, July 3 at Mid-Ohio and Aug. 7 on the streets of Nashville, Tennessee.
SOCCER
PREMIER LEAGUE: Liverpool’s forwards tormented visiting Manchester United in a 4-0 rout.
Mohamed Salah scored twice and also assisted on Luiz Diaz’s goal. Sadio Mane also scored.
• Cristiano Ronaldo received an outpouring of solidarity from Manchester United fans and their Liverpool counterparts after he missed the game after the death of one of his new-born twins.
The boy’s death was announced on Monday by Ronaldo and his partner, Georgina Rodriguez.
The show of support for United’s No. 7 came when the clock at Anfield hit seven minutes.
A chant of “Viva Ronaldo” was started by the United fans. There followed a brief rendition from Liverpool supporters of their club anthem – “You’ll Never Walk Alone” – and applause around the stadium.
United has not indicated when the grieving Ronaldo will return to playing.
BARCELONA: Barcelona announced new measures on ticket sales to keep a high number of visiting fans from attending matches at the Camp Nou Stadium.
The measures come after more than 30,000 Eintracht Frankfurt supporters took over the Camp Nou in a Europa League match last week, even though only about 5,000 tickets were sold directly to the visitors.
Barcelona will now require tickets for big games to be registered to an individual so they can be more easily traced. It will also try to better control the resale of tickets by third-party agents.
CYCLING
ASSAULT: Former Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins revealed he was sexually groomed by a coach when he was 13 years old.
The five-time Olympic champion made the allegation in an interview with Men’s Health UK magazine. He did not identify the coach.
“I was groomed by a coach when I was younger – I was about 13 – and I never fully accepted that,” said the 41-year-old Wiggins, who won the Tour in 2012 and retired four years later.
Asked if he was groomed sexually, Wiggins said: “Yes. It all impacted me as an adult … I buried it,” preferring not to speak out at the time because of a difficult relationship with his stepfather.
Wiggins has previously spoken about his childhood, which included his father walking out on the family. His father was Australian cyclist Gary Wiggins, who died in 2008 following a fight at a house party.
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