Update on the latest sports
APTENNIS-WIMBLEDON
Barty wins her 2nd major
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Ash Barty has won the Wimbledon women’s final for her second Grand Slam title. The top-seeded Barty collected the first 14 points of the final and then held off a comeback to beat eighth-seeded Karolina Pliskova (PLIHSH’-koh-vah) 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.
Barty is the first Australian woman to win the singles trophy at the All England Club since Evonne Goolagong in 1980. She adds Saturday’s trophy to the one she won at the French Open in 2019.
Pliskova is now 0-2 in Grand Slam finals. She also lost the title match at the 2016 U.S. Open. The 29-year-old from the Czech Republic is a former No. 1 who says she still believes she can win a major trophy.
Also Saturday, Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan won her third Wimbledon title in women’s doubles after partnering with Elise Mertens of Belgium to beat Russian duo Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina. Hsieh and Mertens saved two match points in the second set and won 3-6, 7-5, 9-7.
And seventh-seeded Neal Skupski of Britain and Desirae Krawczyk of the United States reached the mixed doubles final at Wimbledon by beating John Peers of Australia and Zhang Shuai of China 3-6, 7-6, 7-5.
WIMBLEDON-FEMALE UMPIRE
Men’s final will have female chair umpire
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — There will be a female chair umpire for the Wimbledon men’s singles final for the first time in the history of a tournament first played in 1877.
Marija Cicak, a 43-year-old from Croatia, will officiate Sunday when Novak Djokovic faces Matteo Berrettini for the championship at the All England Club. The club announced Cicak’s selection on Saturday.
Cicak is a gold badge chair umpire and a member of the WTA Elite Team since 2012. She was the chair umpire for the 2014 Wimbledon women’s final and the women’s doubles final three years later. Cicak also officiated the women’s singles gold medal match at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. She has worked at 15 consecutive Wimbledon tournaments.
MLB-ALL-STAR REPLACEMENTS
Realmuto to start at catcher for NL, Molina a replacement
DENVER (AP) — Philadelphia’s J.T. Realmuto (ree-al-MOO’-toh) will take over for injured San Francisco catcher Buster Posey as the National League’s starter in Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Coors Field in Denver.
St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina earned his 10th All-Star selection, among 10 replacements announced by Major League Baseball.
Kansas City second baseman Whit Merrifield and Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson also earned selections from the players’ ballot, replacing Houston second baseman José Altuve (al-TOO’-vay) and shortstop Carlos Correa. New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom also withdrew from the All-Star Game, wanting to rest his bothersome right arm and side.
The commissioner’s office picked Washington’s Max Scherzer, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Walker Buehler, the Mets’ Taijuan Walker and Milwaukee’s Freddy Peralta as additions to the NL pitching staff.
MLB also added Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner to the NL roster, and Oakland pitcher Chris Bassitt and Tampa Bay second baseman Joey Wendle to the AL roster.
Houston outfielder Michael Brantley and San Diego pitcher Yu Darvish are withdrawing because of injuries.
Anderson, Bassitt, Peralta, Walker and Wendle raise the total to 39 first-time All-Stars, matching 2013 for the high.
TOKYO OLYMPICS-NO FANS
Fans being barred from more venues
TOKYO (AP) — Two more prefectures outside the immediate Tokyo area are barring fans from attending Olympic events because of rising coronavirus infections.
Fukushima (foo-koo-SHEE’-mah) prefecture in northeastern Japan has decided to hold its baseball and softball events without spectators. It has been joined by the northern island of Hokkaido (hoh-ky-doh) which will hold soccer games without fans. A few other events being held in outlying prefectures will go ahead with limited spectators.
Earlier this week Tokyo organizers and the IOC barred all fans from venues in Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures where most of events will be held.
