Tennis: World no.9 Lucie Safarova will miss this month’s Australian Open as she has yet to regain full fitness following a bacterial infection last year, the Czech said. “As an athlete I’m used to fight, usually on the court to get a win, today it’s off court to get my health back,” the 28-year-old, who was runner-up at last year’s French Open, posted on social media. Safarova enjoyed a breakout year in 2015, winning the Australian Open and French Open doubles titles with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and also reaching her first grand slam singles final in Paris.
Golf: Defending champion Patrick Reed made a brilliant eagle at the last hole to earn a one-stroke lead over Jordan Spieth in the first round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. Reed, playing in the final pairing with world no.1 Spieth, overcame a slow start to pick up six strokes in the final six holes for an eight-under-par 65 in benign conditions on the Kapalua Plantation course on the island of Maui. He saved his best for the downhill par-five 18th, where his 310-yard second shot landed some 30 yards short of the green and trundled down to 15 feet.
Cricket: South Africa have named an unchanged squad for the remaining two tests against England as AB de Villiers prepares to lead the five-day team for the first time in Johannesburg on Thursday. De Villiers takes over the captaincy from Hashim Amla, who resigned after the drawn second test in Cape Town with his side 1-0 down in the four-game series that sees further fixtures at the Wanderers (Jan. 14-18) and Centurion Park in Pretoria (Jan. 22-26). Premier fast bowler Dale Steyn has been retained in the squad but will undergo a fitness test as he seeks to return from a shoulder injury.
Baseball: The Korean Baseball Organisation (KBO) handed out half-season suspensions to pitchers Lim Chang-yong and Oh Seung-hwan yesterday following allegations they were involved in illegal gambling in Macau. Prosecutors in December sought a summary order against the two pitchers and asked a local court to impose seven million won ($5,848) each in fines. Free agents Oh and Lim are suspected of gambling tens of thousands of dollars in Macau in November 2014. South Korea’s gambling laws ban nationals from betting in casinos abroad.