BASEBALL
Ezequiel Tovar had two hits and drove in two runs as the Hartford Yard Goats got to the bullpen of the Portland Sea Dogs and earned a 5-3 Eastern League win on Thursday at Hadlock Field in Portland.
Portland starter Jay Groome gave up a solo homer to Isaac Collins in the first inning, but he settled down and went five innings, allowing four hits while walking four and striking out five. In the third inning, the Sea Dogs gave him the lead with RBI singles from Tyler Dearden and Pedro Castellanos.
Groome left after five, and Hartford scored three runs in the sixth off reliever Jacob Wallace to take control, keyed by Tovar’s RBI double. Tovar added an RBI single in the eighth.
Castellanos and Hudson Potts each had two hits for Portland.
TENNIS
WIMBLEDON: Wimbledon will offer a record total of $50.5 million in player compensation, but the singles champions will receive less than the pre-pandemic amount. The prize money excluding per diems totals a record $48.8 million, the All England Club announced Thursday. The men’s and women’s singles winners will each earn $2.5 million, which is 14.9% less than in 2019.
The overall prize money is an 11% increase over last year, when crowd capacity was reduced because of coronavirus restrictions, and a 5.4% increase over 2019.
The oldest Grand Slam tournament begins June 27 and organizers highlighted plans for the grass-court competition to be at full capacity for the first time in three years. Though below the 2019 amount, the prize money for the men’s and women’s singles winners is a 17.6% increase from last year, when Novak Djokovic and Ash Barty won their respective titles. The 2020 tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ATP REFORMS: The ATP men’s professional tennis tour announced reforms Thursday that include expansion of five Masters 1000 events and 50-50 profit sharing between players and tournaments starting next year.
Changes approved by the ATP Board also include increased prize money, all the result of more than two years of negotiations. The “OneVision” phase one plan hopes to increase profits by aggregating tournament revenue into ATP Media and the tour’s Tennis Data Innovations.
Players will receive audited tournament financials for the first time and “a ground-breaking 50-50 profit sharing formula will align the interests of players and tournaments in growing the game as partners in success.”
Starting next year, Masters events in Madrid, Rome and Shanghai will grow from eight-day competitions to 12 days in line with Indian Wells and Miami. Beginning in 2025, the Canada and Cincinnati events will similarly expand. Prize money at the five expanded events will increase by more than 35%, the ATP said.
STUTTGART OPEN: Two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray defeated seventh-seeded Alexander Bublik 6-3, 7-6 (4) to reach the quarterfinals at Stuttgart, Germany.
The 35-year-old Murray dropped his intensity in the second set but saved three set points as he rallied from 5-2 down to win in 1 hour, 42 minutes. Murray missed much of the clay-court season to focus on his preparations for grass. He reached the semifinals of the Surbiton Trophy last week, when he was beaten by Denis Kudla.
Murray’s bid to reach the Stuttgart semifinals will be tested next by top-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, who defeated Swiss qualifier Dominic Stricker 6-3, 6-4 for his first win on grass since June 2019. Tsitsipas defeated Murray in their only previous meeting at the U.S. Open last year.
Also, Nick Kyrgios defeated fifth-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3 and will next face Marton Fucsovics for a place in the semifinals.
NOTTINGHAM OPEN: Top-seeded Maria Sakkari recovered from a poor start to beat Rebecca Marino in three sets and reach the quarterfinals of the Nottingham Open on another rain-affected day at the grass-court event.
The Greek player won 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 to keep alive her bid for a second WTA title, after the Morocco Open on clay in May 2019. Sakkari will next play seventh-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil, who defeated Yuriko Miyazaki 6-2, 7-6 (4).
In the men’s event, Liam Broady became the third British player to reach the last eight by beating Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen in three sets.
SOCCER
ENGLAND AWARDS: Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah was voted as men’s player of the year by his fellow professionals in England for the second time, while Chelsea striker Sam Kerr won the women’s award on Thursday.
Salah became only the seventh man to win the Professional Footballers’ Association award more than once after a season in which he scored 23 goals in the Premier League – tied for first with Tottenham’s Son Heung-min – and had a league-leading 14 assists.
Kerr was the top scorer in the Women’s Super League with 20 goals to help Chelsea to the title, with the team also winning the FA Cup. She is the first Australian player, male or female, to win the award. Harry Kewell won the Young Player of the Year honor in 2000.
NATIONS LEAGUE: Portugal and Spain picked up victories in the Nations League on Thursday to set up a battle between the Iberian neighbors for a spot in the Final Four.
Portugal took sole possession of the lead in Group 2 of the top-tier League A by defeating the Czech Republic 2-0, while Spain earned a first win and moved into second place by edging past struggling Switzerland 1-0 in Geneva.
Portugal, the inaugural champion in 2019, is two points ahead of Spain and three in front of the Czechs after three matches. Only the group winners make it to the Final Four, while the last-place teams will be relegated.
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