Reuters Sports News Summary

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Tennis-Halep withdraws from Madrid Open

Simona Halep has pulled out of next week's Madrid Open in order to work on her fitness as the Romanian said she needs more time get physically ready to compete at the highest level after being out of action for over 18 months. The former Wimbledon and French Open champion had her four-year doping ban cut to nine months by the top court for global sport in March and made her return as a wildcard at the Miami Open, where she fell in the first round to Paula Badosa.

Athletics-Jepchirchir crushes women's-only world record in winning London Marathon

Reigning Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir crushed the women's-only world record in winning the 44th London Marathon on Sunday, while Kenyan compatriot Alexander Mutiso Munyao pulled away from Ethiopian distance great Kenenisa Bekele to win the men's race. The 30-year-old Jepchirchir crossed the finish line in front of Buckingham Palace in two hours 16 minutes 16 seconds to break Mary Keitany's mark of 2:17:01 set in a women-only race at the 2017 London event.

Baseball-Ohtani breaks record for most home runs by a Japanese player

Shohei Ohtani surpassed Hideki Matsui to become the Japanese-born player who has hit the most home runs in Major League Baseball history after the Dodgers slugger launched to right field in the third inning on Sunday. Ohtani stood and watched as his 176th home run went deep into the stands and smiled as he crossed home plate to break the tie with Matsui and open the scoring against the visiting New York Mets at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Olympics-Australian coach defends Chinese swimming amid doping furore

Australian swimming coach Denis Cotterell has rejected allegations of orchestrated doping in Chinese swimming, saying the east Asian nation is adamant about clean sport. Cotterell is working with China's top swimmers in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics and previously coached 1,500 metres freestyle world record holder Sun Yang, who is now suspended for a doping offence.

Celtics start fast, roll past Heat 114-94 in Game 1

The Boston Celtics received 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists from Jayson Tatum and breezed to a 114-94 victory over the visiting Miami Heat on Sunday in Game 1 of a first-round Eastern Conference playoff series. The top-seeded Celtics made 22 of 49 attempts from 3-point range (44.9 percent). All eight Celtics who saw playing time made a 3-point attempt. Eighth-seeded Miami was 12 of 37 (32.4 percent) from 3-point range.

Carter Verhaeghe's tally helps Panthers edge Lightning

Carter Verhaeghe scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period as the host Florida Panthers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in the opening of their best-of-seven, first-round playoff series at Sunrise, Fla. Game 2 is set for Tuesday, also on Panthers home ice.

Luis Gil earns first win since '21 as Yanks hold off Rays

Winning pitcher Luis Gil struck out a career-high nine over 5 2/3 innings Sunday afternoon as the host New York Yankees hung on to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 in the rubber game of a three-game series. Alex Verdugo laced a tiebreaking two-run single during a four-run fifth inning for the Yankees, who have won six of seven series this season.

Tennis-Rybakina strolls to Stuttgart title in straight-sets win over Kostyuk

Elena Rybakina had little trouble in seeing off Marta Kostyuk 6-2 6-2 to win the Stuttgart Open on Sunday, her third title this year. Rybakina adds the Stuttgart title to her wins in the Brisbane International and the Abu Dhabi Open this year. For Kostyuk, this was her second final defeat of 2024 after she lost the decider of the San Diego Open in March.

Boxing-Garcia stuns Haney with majority decision win

Ryan Garcia floored Devin Haney three times on the way to a majority decision victory in their 12-round super lightweight fight on Saturday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. WBC super-lightweight world champion Haney suffered the first loss of his career as he was knocked down in the seventh, 10th and 11th rounds.

Tennis-Ruud defeats Tsitsipas to win Barcelona Open

Casper Ruud gained sweet revenge over Stefanos Tsitsipas as he beat the Greek fifth seed 7-5 6-3 to win the Barcelona Open on Sunday. Just seven days after Tsitsipas thumped Ruud in straight sets to win the Monte Carlo Masters, it was the Norwegian third seed who came out on top in the latest battle between the two 25-year-olds as he secured a 10th ATP title on clay.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)