TENNIS
Novak Djokovic says his right knee has responded well after surgery to repair a torn meniscus less than a month ago and he considers himself ready to contend at Wimbledon, where he has won seven of his 24 Grand Slam trophies.
Speaking at a pre-tournament news conference Saturday, Djokovic said that while he was “very much in doubt of making” it to the All England Club after getting hurt at the French Open on June 3, he is far more optimistic after a week of practices at the site of the grass-court major that begins Monday.
EASTBOURNE: Taylor Fritz of the U.S. became the first three-time men’s champion of the Eastbourne International in Eastbourne, England.
Fritz beat Australian qualifier Max Purcell 6-4, 6-3 in the final, capturing his eighth career title. He didn’t drop a set in the entire tournament.
He also won Eastbourne in 2019 and 2022.
BAD HOMBURG OPEN: Diana Shnaider won her second WTA singles title this year, beating Donna Vekic 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in the final in Bad Homburg, Germany.
MALLORCA CHAMPIONSHIP: Alejandro Tabilo became the first Chilean man to win a grass-court title in the Open era, defeating Sebastian Ofner of Austria, 6-3, 6-4, in Mallorca, Spain.
BASEBALL
EASTERN LEAGUE: Saturday night’s game between the Portland Sea Dogs and Binghamton Rumble Ponies was postponed because of rain in Binghamton, New York, and was rescheduled for Aug. 13 as part of a doubleheader.
SOCCER
EURO 2024: Defending champion Italy crashed out of the European Championship, losing 2-0 to Switzerland 2-0 in Berlin.
Goals in each half from Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas gave the Swiss their first win over Italy in 31 years and set up a quarterfinal against England or Slovakia in Düsseldorf on July 6.
• Germany went from despair to delight in the space of a minute, as a couple of VAR calls set the host nation on its way to a 2-0 win over Denmark in Stuttgart.
Denmark defender Joachim Andersen had a goal disallowed for the narrowest of offside decisions in the 50th minute, then gave away a penalty for a handball on Germany’s very next attack.
Kai Havertz converted the spot kick, and Jamal Musiala added a second goal in the 68th minute.
NETHERLANDS: American defender Sergiño Dest will remain with PSV Eindhoven, agreeing to a four-year contract.
Dest was loaned from Barcelona of the Spanish league to PSV last August. The outside back played in 25 league matches and 37 games overall for the Dutch league champions before tearing an ACL in training on April 20 – an injury that required surgery and will cause him to miss the start of the 2024-25 season.
GOLF
U.S. SENIOR OPEN: Hiroyuki Fujita of Japan shot a 3-under 67 to reach 14 under at Newport, Rhode Island, and maintain a two-stroke lead in pursuit of a wire-to-wire win and his first victory on American soil.
He’ll have to withstand thunderstorms forecast for the final round, as well as a charge from 2019 champion Steve Stricker, who shot his third straight 66 to cut a four-stroke deficit in half.
Richard Green (69) was at 11 under.
Portland native Jeff Martin was tied for 65th place at 5 over after a 74 in the third round.
PGA: Akshay Bhatia and Aaron Rai each shot 4-under 68 to reach 17 under through three rounds and share the lead for the second straight day at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit.
Cam Davis (66) and Cameron Young (67) were a shot back at soggy and windy Detroit Golf Club. Sam Stevens (66) and Erik van Rooyen (68) were another stroke behind.
LPGA: Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho handled a strong wind and the tough foursomes format for a 3-under 67, giving the American duo a one-shot lead going into the final round of the Dow Championship in Midland, Michigan.
The South Korean tandem of Haeji Kang and In Kyung Kim was tied for second at 14 under with a team of former No. 1s in Atthaya Thitikul and Ruoning Yin. The final round is fourballs, the easier format to score.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Antoine Rozner produced a course-record 62 to move into a four-way tie for the lead entering the final round of the Italian Open in Cervia, Italy.
Rozner, who made the cut with a birdie on his final hole Friday, joined Marcel Siem, Shubhankar Sharma and Sebastian Friedrichsen at 10 under.
CYCLING
TOUR DE FRANCE: Two-time podium finisher Romain Bardet won the opening stage and claimed the yellow jersey as cycling’s biggest race began in Italy for the first time.
Tadej Pogacar, who is aiming to follow up his Giro d’Italia title with a third Tour victory, and two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard both finished safely in the main pack at the end of a 206-kilometer ride from Florence to Rimini.
BASKETBALL
WNBA: Jackie Young scored 26 points, Chelsea Gray added 22, and the visiting Las Vegas Aces rallied for their fourth straight victory, beating the Washington Mystics, 88-77.
HOCKEY
NHL: Tampa Bay sent two-time Stanley Cup-winning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to Utah and depth forward Tanner Jeannot to Los Angeles in moves that cleared more than $11 million in salary cap space.
The savings could be enough for Tampa Bay to keep captain Steven Stamkos or make a significant free-agent signing, as well as provide room to lock up cornerstone defenseman Victor Hedman with a long-term contract extension.
• The Washington Capitals acquired goalie Logan Thompson from Vegas for a pair of third-round picks.
AUTO RACING
FORMULA ONE: Max Verstappen followed up his win in the sprint race on Saturday with another dominant performance in qualifying to take pole position for the fourth straight year at the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg, Austria.
Verstappen’s final lap in the third qualifying session beat McLaren’s Lando Norris by 0.404 seconds and earned his eighth pole of the season. George Russell of Mercedes, Carlos Sainz Jr. of Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes rounded out the top five.
XFINITY SERIES: John Hunter Nemechek took the lead off a restart on Lap 142 and drove away for the win in Nashville, Tennessee, for his 11th career victory.
Nemechek led 76 of 188 laps in the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, a week after Christopher Bell gave the same team the victory as part of his sweep at New Hampshire.
Chandler Smith finished second, followed by Jesse Love.
GYMNASTICS
OLYMPICS: Fred Richard earned an automatic berth on the five-man U.S. Olympic team by winning the all-around title and finishing in the top three in three events at the U.S. Olympic trials in Minneapolis.
The Massachusetts native and rising junior at Michigan posted a two-day total of 170.500 to edge three-time national champion Brody Malone.
Paul Juda, Asher Hong and pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik were also selected. Khoi Young and Shane Wiskus are the alternates.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Modify your screen name
Join the Conversation
Please sign into your Press Herald account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.