Digest

TENNIS

Federer confirms he will play French Open

Roger Federer

Roger Federer announced Sunday he will play at the French Open, and the Swiss legend is preparing for it on home clay at a tournament in Geneva next month.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion revealed his plans on his official Twitter page.

"Happy to let you know that I will play Geneva and Paris. Until then I will use the time to train. Can't wait to play in Switzerland again," Federer wrote.

Federer will aim for his 104th career title at the Geneva Open, which takes place May 16-22－shortly before Roland Garros begins in Paris on May 30. The 39-year-old won his only French Open in 2009 and lost to 13-time champion Rafael Nadal in the semifinals two years ago. Federer did not play at Roland Garros last year.

Federer had a repeat operation on his right knee after a first procedure in February 2020. When that bothersome knee kept swelling up after bike rides or walks with his four children, he announced in June that he underwent a second surgery.

SOCCER

Atalanta scores first Serie A win over Juve

Atalanta broke a 20-year curse to end its winless run against Juventus on Sunday as it managed a 1-0 home win in the head-to-head race for third place, the Bergamo-based club's first victory over the Bianconeri in Serie A since 2001.

Juve had a record of 32 consecutive games unbeaten against Atalanta, the two sides ranked third and fourth respectively before Sunday's game, with only one point separating the two teams.

Juve traveled to Bergamo without Cristiano Ronaldo, with Paulo Dybala partnering Alvaro Morata in attack.

Both sides created chances but failed to break through with poor finishing. The game looked to be headed for a goalless draw, but an unlikely hero emerged in the 87th as substitute Ruslan Malinovskyi tried an attempt from outside the box that deflected off Alex Sandro to fly past goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

The win saw Atalanta leap over Juve to third place with 64 points, while the Old Lady dropped to fourth with 62.

In another highly participated fixture, Inter Milan saw its winning streak come to an end after a 1-1 draw with Napoli.

Despite the draw, Inter still leads the standings with 75 points, nine points ahead of AC Milan which conquered Genoa 2-1 on Sunday.

Extra tickets on sale for CSL's season opener

The Chinese Super League (CSL) has announced it is selling 5,000 more tickets for its 2021 season opener in Guangzhou, in response to demand from fans.

Ticket sales for Tuesday's opener between eight-time champion Guangzhou FC and Guangzhou City had gone unexpectedly well, according to a statement on the CSL's official Weibo account.

"The tickets of some categories were sold out within two days after the sale channels opened. We will add 5,000 more tickets for sale," the Weibo post read.

Around 30,000 fans will be allowed into the Guangzhou Tianhe Stadium to watch the local derby match.

MOTOR SPORTS

Verstappen fends off Hamilton in F1 thriller

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen eased to victory in an incident-packed Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday as he comfortably beat Lewis Hamilton, who almost crashed out after a rare error from the world champion.

Hamilton hit a wall in a race that was also temporarily suspended following a separate incident involving the Briton's Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.

The 23-year-old Verstappen led for the majority of the race on the wet Imola track as the Red Bull driver beat Hamilton by 22 seconds for his 11th career win.

Verstappen almost threw victory away when he nearly lost control of his car during the restart after the red flag, but recovered and gradually pulled away from the field out front.

"I had my moment in the restart. That was a big one! But after that it was fine," Verstappen said with a chuckle.

"It's a very long season so just have to keep on working very hard. I'm very happy about the result today but tomorrow we start again... It's great to be fighting against Lewis and Mercedes who have been very dominant for so many years."

ICE HOCKEY

Rangers sweep Devils to bolster playoff push

Birthday boy Mika Zibanejad scored a power-play goal with three minutes remaining and the New York Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils 5-3 Sunday to sweep a four-game series over the past six days.

Chris Kreider, Vitali Kravtsov, Alexis Lafreniere and Ryan Strome also scored as the Rangers extended their season-high point streak to six games (5-0-1). Alexandar Georgiev, who had to leave the ice late in the first period with a lower-body injury only to return, finished with 25 saves as New York improved to 13-4-3 in its past 20 games.

The win kept New York four points behind Boston in the East with 11 games left in the regular season. The Bruins, who have played two fewer games, beat Washington 6-3 earlier Sunday.

Mikhail Maltsev, Marian Studenic and Nico Hischier scored for the Devils, who rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game. Mackenzie Blackwood had 21 saves as the Devils lost their sixth straight and fell to 1-8-2 in their past 11.

Xinhua - Agencies