Cincinnati confirms hiring of Baker
By hiring Dusty Baker as their next manager, the Cincinnati Reds have made a pronounced change in philosophy, turning to an outsider to run the team for the first time in 18 years.
The last time they did it, they won a championship.
The Reds confirmed on Sunday that Baker will become their next manager. Baker, who has a three-year deal, will be introduced at a news conference today in Cincinnati.
The last time the Reds hired a manager with no ties to the organization was 1990, when Lou Piniella took over and led the team to a World Series championship. Every manager since has either come from the minors, the coaching staff or from a scouting/advisory role.
Tennis
Serena loses in final
Serena Williams was undone by a slew of errors Sunday and lost the Kremlin Cup final 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 to Elena Dementieva, who won her hometown tournament on the third attempt at Moscow.
This was the eighth career title for the 14th-ranked Dementieva, who had not beaten Williams in four previous matches. Williams, seeded fourth, had seven aces and 59 unforced errors.
Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko gave Russia a sweep of the men’s and women’s titles by beating Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 7-5, 7-6 (9) and winning this event for the second straight year. This was the first title of the year for Davydenko, who also won this tournament in 2004.
•Top-seeded Novak Djokovic beat Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-0 in the final of the BA-CA Tennis Trophy in Vienna, Austria, for his fifth ATP title of the season.
Wawrinka scored only four points in the second set, which lasted just over 20 minutes.
“That was one of the best sets of my life,” Djokovic said.
•Big-serving Ivo Karlovic had 27 aces in defeating Thomas Johansson 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to win the Stockholm Open in Stockholm, Sweden, for his third career ATP title.
•Italy’s Flavia Pennetta won the Bangkok Open, defeating Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan 6-1, 6-3 in a final interrupted for four hours because of rain at Bangkok, Thailand.
•Defending champion Maria Sharapova has pulled out of the Zurich Open in Linz, Austria, which starts today, because of a lingering shoulder injury.
Issues in sports
Activist dies
Vernon Bellecourt, who fought against the use of Indian nicknames for sports teams as a longtime leader of the American Indian Movement, has died at age 75.
Bellecourt died Saturday at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis of complications from pneumonia.
Miscellany
Kenyan Ndambuki wins
Jonathan Ndambuki battled freezing rain and wind to win the Denver Marathon by 13 seconds over fellow Kenyan Charles Kiplagat with an unofficial time of 2 hours, 21 minutes, 34 seconds.
Martha Tenorio of Boulder won the women’s race in 2:46:41.
•Alec Kessler, a Georgia basketball star who played four seasons for the Miami Heat before becoming an orthopedic surgeon, died after collapsing during a pickup game. He was 40.
He appeared to have had a heart attack Saturday in Pensacola, Fla., and was pronounced dead a short time later at Gulf Breeze Hospital, the university said.
•Aaron Scheidies became the first blind triathlete to finish an Olympic-distance triathlon in under two hours, finishing the U.S. Open Triathlon at Dallas in 1 hour, 58 minutes, 8 seconds.
The 25-year-old Scheidies and guide Ben Collins crossed the finish line 48th overall, about 14 minutes behind winner and Australian Olympian Greg Bennett.
•Russia repeated as champion in the second edition of the synchronized swimming World Trophy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Spain was second and the United States third.