Murray rolls into second round of Rotterdam tourney
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AFP) — Andy Murray rebounded nicely from his Australian Open disappointment as the Scot defeated Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 6-2 yesterday to reach the second round of the ATP Rotterdam World Tennis event.
The world number four, who lost the Grand Slam title bid 10 days ago to Novak Djokovic, showed no rust as he hammered the 109th-ranked Mahut to hand the Frenchman a 30th career defeat by a top 10 player.
Murray, the 2009 champion at the Ahoy Stadium, improved to 4-1 over Mahut, who beat him in a shock on grass at Queen’s club in a 2012 first round,
“It was a high-quality match,” said the winner, 7-1 on the season. “In the second set he had a lot of chances.
“We played some long games with some very good points, it was a real contrast in styles, as he likes to come to the net whenever possible.
“It was a good match, a very high standard. The scoreline does not reflect how tough it was.”
Murray moved into a second-round contest against Canadian Vasek Pospisil.
Muray was never in trouble against Mahut as the 33-year-old qualifier played the event for the fourth time, as the Scottish seed earned a break for 4-2 as Mahut lunged and missed on a volley in the first set.
Murray then ran out the set in 33 minutes, blasting down an ace on his first set point.
In other first-round results, Sergiy Stakhovsky beat Austrian Dominic Thiem 6-1, 6-3, while Italian Andreas Seppi, conqueror of Roger Federer in Melbourne, beat Holland’s Robin Haase in a 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-3 comeback effort.
Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez advanced past Denis Istomin 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.
Pele suggests soft approach in combating racism in football
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazilian legend Pele insisted yesterday he feels racist incidents in football are blown out of proportion and that if there were less column inches given over to those responsible the problem would likely go away.
“If everyone did as (Brazil star) Daniel (Alves), when they threw a banana at him as he took a corner, if they ate it and did nothing then nobody would do anything again,” Pele told UOL web news portal, referring to last year’s incident during a Barcelona game.
On that occasion Alves was praised for coolly picking up the banana and eating it.
But Pele said his point was that racist fans thrived on the attention accorded to their actions.
“The big problem is focusing the attention on these idiots who go to games, who are not fans but delinquents,” insisted three-time world champion Pele.
In contrast, fellow Brazilian world champion Ronaldo had blasted his compatriot for expressing similar sentiments in an interview last September.
Pele insisted that shrugging off racism and carrying on playing was the way to react.
“If I’d started fighting every time they used the N-word in the United States, Latin America and Brazil I’d still be embroiled in legal cases the world over,” said the 74-year-old nicknamed O Rei (the king).
Bob Hewitt allegedly told victim ‘rape is enjoyable’
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — Australian-born former tennis champion Bob Hewitt, who is standing trial for rape and sexual assault in South Africa, allegedly told one of his victims “rape is enjoyable”, a court heard yesterday.
The woman told the court Hewitt, 75, assaulted her during a private tennis lesson when she was a teenager in the early 1990s.
“At a private lesson, he was quite jovial… we were discussing tactics, and he said to me ‘rape is enjoyable in all cases and if I rape you, you need to lie down and enjoy it’,” she said.
“I would try to pull away from him, he would get angry. I could feel him rubbing himself up and down behind me,” the SAPA news agency quoted her as saying in evidence to the Johannesburg court.
The former doubles champion, whose wife has attended court with him, is facing two charges of rape and one of indecent assault during the 1980s and 1990s.
He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Hewitt won numerous Grand Slam events during his career in the 1960s and 1970s and was named to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1992.
But his name was removed from the Hall of Fame in 2012, following allegations that he sexually abused girls he coached.
On Monday, another alleged victim told the court he had touched her inappropriately 34 years ago and forced her to perform a sex act on him when she was 12 and 13.
She claimed that he also raped her during a tournament at Sun City.
On Tuesday, a third alleged victim gave evidence that Hewitt raped her in his car under some trees before tennis practice in Boksburg one day in 1982, when she was 12.
The trial continues.
Dutchman Terpstra retains lead in Tour of Qatar
MESAIEED, Qatar (AFP) — Dutch rider Niki Terpstra of the Etixx team retained the leader’s gold jersey of the Tour of Qatar after yesterday’s fourth stage was won by Norwegian Alexander Kristoff, the Katusha cyclist’s second success.
Kristoff triumphed after a bunched sprint finish at the end of the 165km stage between Al Thakira and Mesaieed, finishing ahead of Slovak Peter Sagan and German Nikias Arndt.
In the overall standings, Terpstra now enjoys a six-second advance on Poland’s Maciej Bodnar, with Briton Ian Stannard 12 seconds adrift.
With his second success in just three days, the Norwegian, 27, asserts himself as one of the men to follow early in the season.
“It’s my best start of a season. I didn’t expect to be that good. I feel good, I feel confident. I have never felt so strong in Qatar before. It’s a great feeling”, said Kristoff.
His sprint win yesterday turned out be easier than Monday’s, which came after a high-tempo and windy stage.
“Maybe I started a bit early, but I felt I had to go otherwise I would have come in from behind. In the end, Sagan was fast. I saw him on my left and I wasn’t too sure I had won. It was a tight one”, Kristoff explained.
Today’s fifth stage sees the riders tackle 153km from Al Zubarah Fort to Madinat Al Shamal.