TENNIS
At age 43 and ranked No. 697, Venus Williams isn’t done quite yet — especially on her favored surface of grass.
Williams upset 48th-ranked Camile Giorgi 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (6) after more than three hours at the Birmingham Classic on Monday for her first victory over a player in the top 50 in nearly four years.
Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam champion and five-time winner of the Wimbledon singles, was out for six months because of a hamstring injury sustained in Auckland in the first week of the year.
On her return last week, she lost to 17-year-old Celine Naef in the first round of the Libema Open in the Netherlands.
VENETO OPEN: Former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin defeated Tamara Zidansek 6-4, 6-2 in the first round at Gaiba, Italy.
Kenin raced to a 5-0 advantage in the first set then lost four straight games before closing it out and running away with the second.
QUEENS CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP: Former finalist Cameron Norrie launched his bid to win on home soil at London by beating Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-4, 7-6 (5).
There was first-round disappointment for British No. 2 Dan Evans, who lost to American Sebastian Korda 6-4, 7-5 but Ryan Peniston advanced by beating Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-2.
Sixth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy beat British wild card Jan Choinski 6-4, 6-2. Ben Shelton of the United States and Diego Schwartzman of Argentina also progressed to the second round.
HALLE OPEN: Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev and Denis Shapovalov progressed from the first round at Halle, Germany, though some had an easier time at the grass-court tournament.
The second-seeded Tsitsipas needed 2 hours, 22 minutes before he eventually prevailed against French player Gregoire Barrere 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Top-seeded Medvedev, who lost last year’s final, defeated American qualifier Marcos Giron 6-4 6-3. Shapovalov beat South African Lloyd Harris 7-6 (1), 6-4.
Nick Kyrgios withdrew to continue his recovery from a knee injury.
BERLIN OPEN: Caroline Garcia defeated local favorite Sabine Lisicki 7-6 (2), 6-3 and Petra Kvitova also progressed from the first round.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova earlier defeated Czech compatriot Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-4. Croatia’s Donna Vekic defeated Russian player Varvara Gracheva 6-3, 6-2.
BASEBALL
NECBL: Evan Fox and Santino Rosso each had two hits with three RBI, and Nathan Waugh and TJ Williams added three hits and two RBI apiece as the Vermont Mountaineers handled the Sanford Mainers 14-5 at Goodall Park in Sanford.
Vermont (7-3) scored in seven of the nine innings, including three runs in the fourth, sixth and ninth innings.
John Rogers had two hits with an RBI and a run scored, and Matthew Miceli had two hits and scored twice, Nicholas Roselli finished with two hits and a run for the Mainers (3-6), who have lost three straight.
COLLEGES: Chase Burns pitched six shutout innings in relief of Chase Dollander, Tennessee manufactured two runs to break a tie in the seventh, and the Volunteers knocked Stanford out of the College World Series with a 6-4 victory at Omaha, Nebraska.
Tennessee (44-21) ended a six-game CWS losing streak dating to 2001 and plays Tuesday against No. 5 LSU.
Stanford (44-20) went 0-2 at the CWS for a second straight year.
• Bennett Lee drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning right after he made a huge defensive play at the plate, leading No. 1 national seed Wake Forest to a 3-2 victory over LSU.
The Demon Deacons (54-10) are now in control of their bracket and a win away from the best-of-three finals. Their next game is Wednesday against the winner of a Tuesday elimination game between SEC rivals LSU and Tennessee. The Deacons would have to lose twice to be denied a spot in the finals.
Lee, the Deacons’ catcher, made one of the plays of the CWS in the top of the eighth when he snagged third baseman Brock Wilken’s bouncing throw and tagged out Tre’ Morgan to keep the game tied at 2.
After Danny Corona lashed Thatcher Hurd’s breaking pitch down the right-field line for a double in the bottom half, Lee followed with a hit into left that brought Corona home and produced Wake Forest’s second straight come-from-behind win.
Wake Forest closer Camden Minacci (1-1) pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to finish off the Tigers (49-16).
SOCCER
MEXICO: The Mexican Soccer Federation announced it has replaced Argentine Diego Cocca as coach of the national team, following a humiliating 3-0 loss to the United States.
The federation said Jaime Lozano will take over the top spot. Lozano previously coached the national team and led it to a bronze medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Cocca had been named head of the national team only in February, and his short stint Mexico compiled a record of 3 wins, 3 ties and a loss.
But criticisms had emerged about his leadership, and the complaint came to a head Thursday when the U.S. squad trounced Mexico in the semifinals of the Nations Cup, a CONCACAF tournament.
HOCKEY
AWARDS: Presumptive No. 1 NHL draft pick Connor Bedard has been honored as the International Ice Hockey Federation’s first male player of the year.
The IIHF announced Bedard finished first in voting among a panel of representatives from 22 countries, well ahead of Latvian goalie Arturs Silovs, Swiss forward Andres Ambuhl and German defenseman Moritz Seider.
Bedard helped Canada win the past two world junior championships, played last summer and this past winter, before turning 18. He was MVP of the most recent tournament after leading all players in scoring with 23 points in seven games.
The Chicago Blackhawks recently won the lottery for the chance to select Bedard with the first pick and are expected to do so at the draft in Nashville next week.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.