Page 22 - Aruba Today

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SPORTSTuesday 15 March 2016
Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, returns a shot to Bjorn Fratangelo at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tour-
nament, Sunday, March 13, 2016, in Indian Wells, Calif.
Top-ranked Djokovic, Serena
Williams advance in Indian Wells into Nome sometime early
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) —
Novak Djokovic opened his
bid for a third straight BNP
Paribas Open title Sunday
night by surviving an un-
expected challenge from
American qualifier Bjorn
Fratangelo, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.
“All credit to Bjorn on play-
ing a great match, but I
wasn’t feeling comfortable
at all on the court,” the
top-ranked Djokovic said
after extending his winning
streak at the Indian Wells
Tennis Garden to 12 match-
es. “I was just trying to find a game, and Muller double-
way, trying to hang in there
and make it through.”
The 22-year-old Fratangelo
was the French Open boys’
champion in 2011 and
turned pro in 2012, but has
been playing almost exclu-
sively on the satellite tours.
He’s ranked No. 149 and his
first-round win Friday was
his first in four matches on
the ATP World Tour.
He took a 4-0 lead in the
opening set and kept the
match interesting until
Djokovic got back-to-back
service breaks en route
to winning the final five
games.
“He deserved every point
he got,” Djokovic said. “He
played a great match, es-
pecially in the first set.”
Djokovic, who has a 17-1
record this season, took
the court after top-ranked
Serena Williams moved into
the women’s fourth round
with a ragged 7-6 (2), 6-0
victory over Yulia Putintse-
va of Kazakhstan.
Later, fourth-seeded Rafael
Nadal beat Gilles Muller of
Luxembourg 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.
Simona Halep of Romania
capped the night with a
64-minute 6-2, 6-4 win over
Ekaterina Makarova of Rus-
sia. Nadal got a tenuous
grip on the match when
a backhand passing shot
gave him a 30-0 lead with
Muller serving in the final
faulted to make it 40-0.
Nadal gave two points
back on errant forehands,
then won it with a forehand
return that handcuffed
Muller as he moved to the
net.
“He’s a very, very difficult
player, especially in these
conditions,” Nadal said of
his left-handed opponent.
“It’s very, very difficult to tiebreaker and then finally
play.
You have to be focused all
the time and put as many
balls in the court as you
can and wait for your mo-
ment.”
In the opening set, Williams
showed the effects of a
six-week layoff since losing
the Australian Open final.
The two-time tournament
champion made 29 un-
forced errors and seemed
completely out of a rhythm
against Putintseva, who
This photo provided by KTUU shows Arnold Demoski, who was
charged with colliding his snowmobile with Iditarod trail sled
dog race teams Saturday, March 12, 2016, near Nulato, Alaska.
Demoski, 26, of Nulato, was arrested on suspicion of assault,
reckless endangerment, reckless driving and multiple counts of
criminal mischief.
Iditarod
Continued from page 17
Associated Press
The winner is expected
Tuesday morning. Three-
time winner Dallas Seavey
played aggressively and was the first musher into
challenged every close line
call. the checkpoint in White
“I was just trying to find my
rhythm out there, trying my Mountain, 39 minutes
best to not get off to a slow
start,” Williams said. “Then ahead of two-time winner
I got broken really early
and I couldn’t manage to Mitch Seavey, who is also
break back. I was just try-
ing to fight out there and his father. Brent Sass was
do what I could. “I found
it (Putintseva’s style) good third into the checkpoint,
to play. I just wasn’t finding
my rhythm. I hadn’t played where mushers must take
someone like her, so I was
just trying to get my bear- an eight-hour rest before
ings there. I made a lot of
errors in that first set. I went the last 77-mile stretch to
for a lot and I usually make
those, but I kept missing. Nome.
Even in the first game. Even
though I won, The crash happened early
I made some simple errors
that just kept going for the Saturday morning near the
first set.”
Williams had to break Pu- checkpoint in Nulato.
tintseva’s serve to force the
Arnold Demoski of Nulato
began to impose herself on
the 56th-ranked Putintseva, is accused of intentionally
winning the final five points.
“My intensity was higher driving a snowmobile into
and I started making my
shots,” Williams said. “I Zirkle’s team and then the
was going for it. I just kept
missing it either in the net team of four-time Iditarod
or missing it out. Really, re-
ally close. I started making champion Jeff King. One
them, and then I started
getting more confidence of King’s dogs, Nash, was
to continue to go for it,
and that kind of helped me killed, and at least two oth-
out.”q
er dogs were injured.
Demoski has said he was re-
turning home from a night
of drinking when he struck
the teams. He was going
about 100 mph when he
crashed into King’s team
and about 40 mph when
he struck Zirkle’s team,
court documents say.
He was charged with as-
sault, reckless endanger-
ment and reckless driving.
His bail was set at $50,000,
the Fairbanks Daily News-
Miner reported.
Fairbanks District Court
Magistrate Dominick
DiBenedetto said during
Sunday’s hearing that if
the allegations are proven
true, they could amount to
Associated Press
an act of terrorism. DiBene-
detto also said he would
have likely approved bail
that 10 times the amount
requested, KTVA-TV report-
ed.
Demoski’s attorney, Bill Sat-
terberg, declined com-
ment to The Associated
Press on Monday.
The end of the Iditarod is
a huge economic driver
in this community of about
3,600. Many events are
tied to race.
Among them is a huge
arts and crafts sale, where
Summer Larsen was sell-
ing homemade soaps and
creams. She said the crash
appears to be an isolated
incident and isn’t casting a
pallor over the finish.
“It’s disappointing to hear,
for sure, but I don’t think it’s
specific to the race, really,”
said Larsen, who moved to
Nome 20 years ago from
Kona, Hawaii. “I think it’s
just an issue of alcohol and
bad judgment.”
Nome Police Chief John
Papasodora said it will be
“all hands on deck” for
his force when the mush-
ers begin to hit town, but
that’s normal every year.
“I don’t anticipate any-
thing on this end that we’re
going to run into,” he said.
“It’s a historical event, but
it’s also a cultural event
since it’s been going on for
so long. So I’d be very, very
surprised if we had an inci-
dent similar to that.”
When a musher is one
mile outside of Nome, the
town’s siren sounds, alert-
ing people to head to the
finish line. q