Kerber sets up Eastbourne clash with Halep
EASTBOURNE, England (AP) — Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber will meet Simona Halep in the quarterfinals at Eastbourne after they won their third-round matches Wednesday.
Seeded fourth, Kerber beat Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson 7-6 (4), 6-0 and now has a 5-1 record on grass this season ahead of next week’s Wimbledon. The 31-year-old German reached the Eastbourne final in 2012 and 2014, losing both times.
Halep came through a tough third-round match against Polona Hercog 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. The Romanian player faced three break points and lost them all, but managed to break Hercog six times.
Second-seeded Karolina Pliskova hit 24 winners in a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Elise Mertens. That set up a quarterfinal against Ekaterina Alexandrova, who progressed when her opponent Jelena Ostapenko retired with a hip injury at 3-6, 1-2 down.
Britain’s Johanna Konta lost 6-3, 6-2 to Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, who will face Alize Cornet in the last eight.
In the men’s draw, top-seeded Guido Pella lost to Taylor Fritz 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, while second-seeded Laslo Djere was defeated 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6) by qualifier Thomas Fabbiano. Sam Querrey beat fourth-seeded Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 6-3.
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UConn to rejoin Big East, board vote makes it official
STORRS, Conn. (AP) — UConn is heading back to the Big East
The University of Connecticut Board of Trustees voted Wednesday to accept an invitation to move its basketball and most other athletic teams from the American Athletic Conference.
The teams are expected to begin play in the conference at the start of the 2020-21 academic year.
The move is designed energize the school’s fan base by renewing some old rivalries. It also means an end to costly road trips to states such as Texas, Oklahoma and Florida for conference games.
The Huskies were a charter member of the Big East conference. They remained in what would become the American Athletic Conference when seven Catholic schools broke away in 2013, taking the Big East name with them.
The school has not said what it plans to do with its football program, a sport not offered by the Big East.
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Texas Tech player Corprew suspended over Title IX complaint
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech basketball player Deshawn Corprew has been suspended while the school investigates a Title IX complaint against the junior forward.
The school said coach Chris Beard suspended Corprew after learning of the allegations. Title IX complaints can involve allegations of sexual misconduct or gender discrimination, but the school declined to comment beyond its statement.
Corprew averaged 5.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 13.5 minutes per game as a sophomore in his first season with the Red Raiders, who lost to Virginia in overtime in the national championship game.
The 6-foot-5 Corprew, who attended a prep school in North Carolina, spent his freshman year at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, about 30 miles west of Lubbock.
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55-year-old table-tennis player wins European Games medal
MINSK, Belarus (AP) — A 55-year-old table-tennis player has won a bronze medal at the European Games, 36 years after she was a world champion for China.
Representing Luxembourg, veteran player Ni Xia Lian won 4-2 against another Chinese-born player, Yang Xiaoxin of Monaco, on Wednesday.
The victory also means Ni earned Luxembourg a spot at next year’s Olympics in Tokyo. If she goes, it would be her fifth Games.
The 31-year-old Yang was not born when Ni won world team championship gold for China in 1983.
Ni moved to Luxembourg in the 1990s, running a hotel with her husband. She kept competing, with a five-year break between 2002 and 2007, and set a record in 2017 for the longest table-tennis match at 1 hour 33 minutes.
Chinese-born players represent many countries in table tennis, including European Games gold and silver medalists, Fu Yu of Portugal and Han Ying of Germany.
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ESPN anchor Bob Ley retires after 40 years with network
BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — Bob Ley, an anchor at ESPN since the network’s launch 40 years ago, has announced his retirement.
Ley was ESPN’s longest-tenured anchor, joining “SportsCenter” on the channel’s third day of operation on Sept. 9, 1979. He hosted “Outside The Lines,” an investigative news program, from its launch in 1990 until he took a sabbatical last September.
The 64-year-old Ley tweeted Wednesday that he’s enjoying the “best of health” and that the decision to retire was “entirely” his own.
ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro says Ley set “the standard of excellence” with his “unwavering commitment and unparalleled work ethic.”
Ley hosted the first NCAA selection show and the inaugural live broadcast of the NFL draft in 1980. On “OTL,” he led reporting on concussions and the NFL’s handling of domestic violence cases.
He provided the first live national reports during the earthquake in San Francisco at the 1989 World Series.
Ley, who won 11 Sports Emmy Awards, was inducted into the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame this week.
