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SPORTS Friday 20 May 2022
Oldani earns first professional win, López keeps Giro lead

GENOA, Italy (AP) — Ital- line, 57 seconds behind
ian cyclist Stefano Oldani Oldani. The peloton was
claimed his first professional more than nine minutes
victory by winning the 12th behind. López maintained
and longest stage of the his 12-second lead overall
Giro d’Italia while Juan Pe- from Richard Carapaz and
dro López kept the pink jer- João Almeida. The 24-year-
sey on Thursday. old Spaniard, who rides for
Oldani, who rides for Alpe- Trek–Segafredo, has worn
cin-Fenix, edged compa- the maglia rosa since finish-
triot Lorenzo Rota by half a ing second on Stage 4 on
bike length, and Dutch cy- Etna.
clist Gijs Leemreize was third “My objective was to try to
at the end of the 204-kilo- win some stages, but now I
meter (127-mile) route from live a dream, nine days in
Parma to Genoa. the maglia rosa is amaz-
All three riders were looking ing,” López said.
for their first World Tour win Friday’s 13th stage is the
and were all wary of each final one for the sprinters
other. although there is a steep,
Leemreize opened up his third-category climb in the
sprint first, but Oldani kicked first half of the 150-kilome-
in and held on for the win. ter (93-mile) route from San
Oldani burst into joyful tears Italy’s Stefano Oldani celebrates winning the 12th stage of the Giro D’Italia cycling race from Remo to Cuneo.
after crossing the line. He Parma to Genoa, Italy, Thursday, May 19, 2022. Associated Press One of the top sprinters
was the second Italian to will not be there as Ca-
win in as many days after stop crying before because tage of over five minutes Rota, Oldani and Leem- leb Ewan pulled out be-
a wait of 11 days in their I worked really, really hard on the first of the three reize attacked from the fore the start of Thursday’s
home race. for this. It seems like magic third-category climbs, the 25-man breakaway group stage. The Australian strug-
“For sure it was not easy,” that I’ve done it.” Passo del Bocco. on the second categorized gled since crashing on the
Oldani said. “I knew Rota, The trio was part of a large It was the first time the climb climb of the day and swiftly opening day and had al-
he’s my friend, so I knew breakaway that eventu- featured in the Giro since built a lead, which they ways said he would leave
that he was also fast, so I ally got up the road after a the death of Belgian cyclist worked well together to the Giro before the finish in
had to watch out … it was frantic start with lots of at- Wouter Weylandt during maintain on the tough final order to focus on the Tour
not so easy to manage it tempts to escape the pelo- the race in 2011. The race ascent. de France.
but in the end I did it. I still ton. honored Weylandt on the Bauke Mollema led the The Giro finishes in 10 days
can’t believe it, I couldn’t The group had an advan- descent where he crashed. chasing group across the in Verona.q

Naomi Osaka gets rematch as she returns to French Open

By HOWARD FENDRICH who just so happens to be fending champion at Mel-
AP Tennis Writer the last woman to defeat bourne Park.
PARIS (AP) — Naomi Osaka Swiatek. The tournament The possible women’s quar-
will not have the luxury of begins Sunday. terfinals in Paris are Swiatek
easing into her return to the Osaka is a four-time Grand against two-time major
courts of the French Open, Slam champion who used runner-up Karolina Pliskova,
facing a tough foe in her to be No. 1 in the rankings and No. 3 seed Paula Ba-
very first match. but has slipped to No. 38 dosa against No. 7 Aryna
Week 2 at Roland Gar- in part because of a lack Sabalenka on the top half
ros, meanwhile, could be of activity. That included of the field, and defend-
quite fascinating for Novak time off for a mental health ing champion Barbora Kre-
Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and break after she withdrew jcikova against No. 5 Anett
Carlos Alcaraz — the three from Roland Garros ahead Kontaveit, and No. 4 Maria
leading favorites for the of her second-round match Sakkari against No. 6 Ons
men’s title ended up on last year, revealing that she Jabeur on the bottom half.
the same side of the brack- has dealt with anxiety and Last year, in her first time in Men’s single, left, and women’s single cups are displayed during
et for the clay-court Grand depression. the main draw of singles at the draw of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland
Slam tournament, mean- Because she is not seeded the French Open, Krejciko- Garros stadium in Paris, Thursday, May 19, 2022.
Associated Press
ing only one can reach at the French Open, she va won both that trophy —
the final. Thursday’s draw was not safe from fac- the player she beat in the fi- a brief appearance at the pas to win the final.
at Roland Garros also set ing a seeded opponent nal, Anastasia Pavlyuchen- draw ceremony and noted “I am very motivated
up two tantalizing possibili- right away, so that’s what kova, announced this week with a smile: “This clay suits to play my best tennis,”
ties in the fourth round for will happen against No. her season is done because me.” Djokovic said in French on
No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek, 27 Amanda Anisimova, a of an injured knee — along Djokovic, who is the de- Thursday, as he marked
the 2020 champion who 20-year-old American who with women’s doubles. fending champion and his chance to get back on
is currently on a 28-match was a 2019 semifinalist in So it makes sense that Kre- seeded No. 1, could meet the Grand Slam stage af-
winning streak. She might Paris. Anisimova won their jcikova used phrases such Nadal in the quarterfinals. ter missing the Australian
need to go up against 2018 third-round encounter at as “extremely amazing” A year ago, Djokovic beat Open because he is not
champion Simona Halep at the Australian Open in Jan- and “something incred- Nadal in the semifinals, be- vaccinated against COV-
that stage or 2017 cham- uary by a score of 4-6, 6-3, ible” while discussing what fore erasing a two-set defi- ID-19 (the French Open has
pion Jelena Ostapenko — 7-6 (5). Osaka was the de- happened in 2021 during cit against Stefanos Tsitsi- no such requirement). q