Federer gets a quarters bye

LONDON – Four-time champion Roger Federer of Switzerland was yesterday handed a bye to the quarter-finals of Wimbledon when fourth-round opponent Tommy Haas was forced to pull out through injury.

Haas, the 13th seed, suffered a torn abdominal muscle in his four-set victory over Russian Dmitry Tursunov in the third round at the All England Club. World number one Federer will play the winner of the match between Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero and Serb Janko Tipsarevic in the last eight as he bids for a fifth straight Wimbledon title, equalling the modern-day record of Bjorn Borg.* Sakata defends WBA flyweight title TOKYO – Japan’s Takefumi Sakata avenged his loss in December by beating Roberto Vasquez of Panama to defend the World Boxing Association flyweight title yesterday.There was no knockdown in the scheduled 12 rounds but Sakata took the initiative to send Vasquez to the ropes, unleashing numerous hooks from both sides to dominate the bout after the fourth round.Three judges scored it 115-113, 116-113 and 116-112 all in favour of the Japanese champion.”I feel like I became the real champion today.I’m not going to lose the title, I’m determined to continue to win it,” said a jubilant Sakata, 27.* Klose on target in Bayern win HONG KONG – Germany marksman Miroslav Klose scored on debut as new-look Bayern Munich came from behind to beat Brazilian champions Sao Paulo 2-1 in the Reunification Cup on Sunday.Klose headed an equaliser on 60 minutes before another new signing, Turkish midfielder Hamit Altintop, secured the deserved win with a deflected free-kick.Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld gave Klose, who moved from Werder Bremen for a reported 15 million euros (20 million dollars), 99 marks out of 100 for his performance.* Phelps dominates Santa Clara meet SANTA CLARA – World record holder Michael Phelps was dominant on the second full day of competition at the Toyota International Invitational Grand Prix in Santa Clara.Phelps set a new meet record in the 400m free and tied the meet record in the 200m back.He now has three gold medals after competing in three events this meet.Phelps took home his first gold of the night and broke a meet record with a win in the men’s 400m free, besting the field by more than three seconds in 3:47.34.Michael Klueh was second in 3:50.83, while Canada’s Ryan Cochrane was third in 3:50.89.Australian world record holder Leisel Jones had another strong night, winning a close race in the women’s 100m breast against Olympic silver medalist Tara Kirk (Bremerton, Wash.).Reports by Nampa-Reuters and AFPWorld number one Federer will play the winner of the match between Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero and Serb Janko Tipsarevic in the last eight as he bids for a fifth straight Wimbledon title, equalling the modern-day record of Bjorn Borg.* Sakata defends WBA flyweight title TOKYO – Japan’s Takefumi Sakata avenged his loss in December by beating Roberto Vasquez of Panama to defend the World Boxing Association flyweight title yesterday.There was no knockdown in the scheduled 12 rounds but Sakata took the initiative to send Vasquez to the ropes, unleashing numerous hooks from both sides to dominate the bout after the fourth round.Three judges scored it 115-113, 116-113 and 116-112 all in favour of the Japanese champion.”I feel like I became the real champion today.I’m not going to lose the title, I’m determined to continue to win it,” said a jubilant Sakata, 27.* Klose on target in Bayern win HONG KONG – Germany marksman Miroslav Klose scored on debut as new-look Bayern Munich came from behind to beat Brazilian champions Sao Paulo 2-1 in the Reunification Cup on Sunday.Klose headed an equaliser on 60 minutes before another new signing, Turkish midfielder Hamit Altintop, secured the deserved win with a deflected free-kick.Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld gave Klose, who moved from Werder Bremen for a reported 15 million euros (20 million dollars), 99 marks out of 100 for his performance.* Phelps dominates Santa Clara meet SANTA CLARA – World record holder Michael Phelps was dominant on the second full day of competition at the Toyota International Invitational Grand Prix in Santa Clara.Phelps set a new meet record in the 400m free and tied the meet record in the 200m back.He now has three gold medals after competing in three events this meet.Phelps took home his first gold of the night and broke a meet record with a win in the men’s 400m free, besting the field by more than three seconds in 3:47.34.Michael Klueh was second in 3:50.83, while Canada’s Ryan Cochrane was third in 3:50.89.Australian world record holder Leisel Jones had another strong night, winning a close race in the women’s 100m breast against Olympic silver medalist Tara Kirk (Bremerton, Wash.).Reports by Nampa-Reuters and AFP