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Today — 4 July 2025Sport News

Ben Shelton takes 1 minute to defeat opponent at Wimbledon after match was suspended due to darkness

Ben Shelton was serving for the match at the Wimbledon Championships on Thursday, but he had to wait until the next day to do so.

That's because his second-round bout against Rinky Hijikata was suspended due to darkness.

Shelton was leading, 6-2, 7-5, 5-4, when the match was called, and he clearly was not happy - play was suspended at 9:29 p.m. local time, and both players had made arguments to suspend play earlier in the match.

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Shelton approached the umpire and had to be held back by another official to calm him down.

Well, Shelton and Hijikata returned to the court early Friday morning to finish the match - and it took one minute to do so, as Shelton advanced to the third round.

"It was difficult. At that point, we kind of knew that we were playing in conditions that weren't ideal for tennis. For me, it was like, ‘what’s one more game at that point?' Shelton said after the match. "I understand the tournament's gotta make whatever decisions they make, and the players gotta live with that. For me, I live with it. I came out today, and I did what I do.

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"I hadn't gotten broken the whole match. I haven't gotten broken since my first set in my first round, and I felt confident coming out here having one service game to finish it."

Shelton said he was unsure of his plans for the day, debating whether he should practice, considering Friday was originally scheduled to be an off day for the 10th-ranked player in the world.

"It's different. I warmed up for 30 minutes, then spent one minute on the court. A lot more time was spent in the preparation than the actual match," he said.

Shelton will face Marton Focsovics of Hungary in the third round on Saturday. His best finish at Wimbledon was lasting to the fourth round last year - he has made the semifinals in both the Australian and U.S. Opens.

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Royals' Bobby Witt Jr pulls off epic slide to avoid tag at home plate

The Kansas City Royals need all they can get if they want to return to the postseason - thankfully, they have Bobby Witt Jr.

Witt Jr. is not putting up the same numbers he did last season that got him a second-place finish in the AL MVP vote (behind only Aaron Judge), but his athleticism and eye-popping ability is still there.

In the top of the seventh, tied at one against the Seattle Mariners, Vinnie Pasquantino was at the dish with Jonathan India on third and Witt Jr. on second.

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Witt is one of the fastest people in the league, so a base hit in all likelihood was going to be a two-run lead. However, it did not come as easily as expected. Pasquantino found a hole past the right side of the infield which was playing in - which certainly helped the Royals in this case. And Witt Jr. was obviously on the move.

The throw, however, beat Witt Jr., but a tag was never made.

That's because Witt avoided it by sliding outside, and beyond the plate, then contorting his entire body to reach back out behind him with his right hand.

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Lucas Erceg and Taylor Clarke got two outs each, and Carlos Estévez pitched 1 1/3 innings to get his 24th save. Estévez gave up a leadoff homer to Dominic Canzone in the ninth and had runners on second and third after a wild pitch with one out, but struck out Julio Rodríguez and got Raleigh to ground out to end the game.

Witt Jr. has now hit safely in his last 23 road games, breaking Hal McRae's 42-year-old Kansas City record.

Kansas City (41-47) is now 13.0 games back of the Detroit Tigers, who are coasting in the AL Central, for the division lead.

However, with Witt Jr. at short, there will always be a chance.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Joshua Van foresaw flyweight ‘take over’ well before UFC 317 fight of the year-level win

Six months ago, nobody thought Joshua Van was almost ready to fight for UFC gold; not this soon. Well, except for the man himself. “I always tell my coaches and my teammates, ‘This year, we’re gonna take over,’ ” Van told The Post on video call Thursday. It’s not that the masses doubted Van had...

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