SPORTS
September 26, 2013 | By Diane Pucin
The Women's Tennis Assn. tournament that has been played in Carlsbad since 1984 will move to in Tokyo in 2014, the WTA confirmed Thursday. The move was first reported by Tennisreporters.com. The WTA tournament that is currently at Stanford will take the Carlsbad event's spot on the calendar and in 2014 will begin on July 28. The Tokyo event will be held in September, after the U.S. Open. Octagon owns the Carlsbad tournament and will run it out of Tokyo. Chicago had made a pitch for the event also.
SPORTS
September 23, 2013 | By Diane Pucin
The 2014 BNP Paribas Open, the largest combined ATP and WTA combined two-week event, will be held March 3-16 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden . ESPN has announced it has renewed its television contract with the tournament through 2020, tournament director Steve Simon said. The 2014 edition of the tournament will once again culminate on ESPN2 on March 14, ESPNEWS on March 15, and both singles finals will air live back-to-back on ESPN2 on March 16. Beginning in 2015, coverage of the final weekend of the tournament will be on ESPN2 on Friday and on ABC on Saturday and Sunday.
SPORTS
March 11, 2013 | By Diane Pucin, Los Angeles Times
Time. It's a topic that doesn't much affect Roger Federer. The owner of 17 major titles and the defending champion of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells never wastes time. He certainly didn't on Monday, taking only 61 minutes to defeat Ivan Dodig of Croatia, 6-3, 6-1, in the third round at Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Federer doesn't fiddle with his clothing or walk in dizzying circles after a tense point. Whether he hits a swift winning shot after a short rally or mishits a losing shot after running and running during a long point, Federer just moves ahead.
SPORTS
August 23, 2012 | By David Wharton
Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott was scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Thursday to join up with the UCLA basketball team for its series of exhibition games. Scott has been working with the Federation of University Sports of China to lay the groundwork for the Bruins' trip through Beijing and Shanghai. "This is the first step in what I hope will be a long journey of competition and exchange between the Pac-12 and China," he said earlier this week. The basketball-crazy nation could be fertile ground for a conference that has just launched its own sports network.
SPORTS
June 9, 2012 | By Henry Chu
PARIS -- The woman in black would not be denied. Both victory and a place in the history books lay at the end of her racquet, which she wielded like a deadly weapon. With unerring aim, Maria Sharapova of Russia won the French Open on Saturday, capturing her first title on the crushed red clay and picking up the only major trophy lacking in her collection. Sharapova, 25, defeated Italy's Sara Errani, 6-3, 6-2, in a one-sided match on a blustery Paris afternoon. The Russian's fourth major title made her the sixth female tennis player in the Open era to achieve a career Grand Slam, and she joins Serena Williams as the only other active woman currently on tour who can make the same boast.
SPORTS
March 8, 2012 | Diane Pucin
The aggressive athlete. The left-hander. The tactician. That's how Roger Federer describes the other three best men's tennis players in the world. Federer says Novak Djokovic, currently ranked No. 1 and winner of four of the last five majors, is the most athletic of his most avid competitors and the most aggressive. Rafael Nadal, ranked second in the world, is the left-hander with troublesome spin and relentless focus, according to Federer. Andy Murray, ranked No. 4, and still looking for a major title, impresses Federer with his defensive skills and thoughtful tennis.