Singles

Ramkumar crashes out of Ilkley Challenger

new delhi: Indian Davis Cupper Ramkumar Ramanathan continued to struggle on grass as he crashed out of the Ilkley ATP Challenger event after losing his first round to Austria's Sebastian Ofner. Ramkumar lost 5-7, 3-6 to Ofner in 64 minutes. He has managed to win only three matches in as many tournaments he has played since the grass court began. It was the fifth meeting between Ramkumar and Ofner, who had also won in the last encounter in Antwerp in 2017. The Indian, ranked 125, converted only one of the three breakpoints while  Ofner, placed 20 places below Ramkumar, broke his rival four times at the Euro 12700 event.

No truth in Schweinsteiger deal, says ATK

kolkata: Two-time Indian Super League champions ATK on Tuesday denied speculations that they are in an advanced stage of reaching an agreement with 2014 World Cup winner Bastian Schweinsteiger of Germany. ATK's denial came after reports in a vernacular daily claimed that the former Bayern Munich star midfielder may be seen in ATK colours in the upcoming season of ISL with new head coach Steve Coppell keen to rope in the German. "At this point of time, we at ATK have not contacted any player. We have no clue about the development," an ATK spokesperson said on Tuesday. The report claimed Coppell had proposed Schweinsteiger as one of the possible recruits to the team management and the Kolkata franchise are in an advanced discussion with him. "We are not aware whether Coppell has reached out to him (Schweinsteiger). There's no truth to this," he said.

Yasir, Babar to undergo fitness test

karachi: Senior leg-spinner Yasir Shah will undergo fitness test this weekend in Lahore ahead of the tour to Zimbabwe, starting June 28. The ongoing dispute on salary and match fee issue between the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) and players doesn't affect the Pakistan Cricket Board with their preparations and selection procedure. "A fitness test will be commencing on June 23 in Lahore and the team would be leaving for Harare on the June 28," a Board official said. Head coach, Mickey Arthur and the team physiotherapist will be supervising the fitness test for Yasir (all-rounder), Emmad Wasim, pacer Rumman Raees and Babar Azam. The Test tour of Ireland and England were missed by Yasir owing to a hip injury while Babar suffered a fracture in his arm while batting in the first Test at Lord's last month.

Cilic, Wawrinka make winning start at Queen's

london:   Marin Cilic hopes another good run at Queen's Club will stand him in good stead for Wimbledon. The top-seeded Cilic was champion in 2012 and runner-up in 2013 and 2017.  He made a winning start at Queen's Club on Monday, beating Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-3, 6-4. Another big-name winner was three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, who took apart Cameron Norrie of Britain 6-2, 6-3. While Sam Querrey eased past British wild card Jay Clarke 6-3, 6-3 but fellow American Jack Sock, the sixth seed, lost to Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-3.