Second best belle at Indian Wells

Caroline Wozniacki reached the Indian Wells final last weekend – her third in four years – where she lost 2-6, 2-6 to Maria Sharapova. The 2011 champ hit just one winner to the Russian’s 17 in the first set – a narrative that continued in the second. Her third straight loss to Sharapova continues a run that has seen her fail to beat a top-five player since May 2011. Her performance, which included a walkover against an injured Victoria Azarenka in the quarter-finals, and a gutsy comeback from 2-6, 0-2 down against world number six Angelique Kerber in the semis, netted her 560 ranking points – enough to lift her a place to ninth in the world rankings. Next up for Woz is the Miami Masters where she will be defending the 450 points she earned making the semi-finals last year.

Egypt over Denmark

Former FC Copenhagen player Amir Adel, 18, a playmaker at Dutch outfit PSV Eindhoven, who is better known as Alexander Jacobsen in both countries, has opted to play international football for Egypt. “I was offered spots in the Danish and the Dutch national teams earlier, but I preferred to play with Egypt,” he told Al-Ahram Al-Reyady.

Back with a vengeance

Badminton mixed doubles pairing Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen last weekend brushed off the disappointment of being knocked out in the first round of the recent All-England championship by unseeded opponents by winning the Swiss Open – their second title of 2013. They beat China’s Zhang Nan and Tang Jinhua 22-20, 21-19 to take the grand prix title.

Dedicated to Dad

An emotional Tom Kristensen dedicated his team’s second-place finish in the 12 Hours of Sebring race over the weekend to the memory of his father who died earlier this month. The seven-time Le Mans winner, racing for Audi, clocked the fastest lap of the event, but in the end a 60-second penalty saw his team finish eight seconds shy of Audi’s other team.

Il Biondo not so buono

Former pro road cyclist Rolf Sørensen has admitted to doping. The 47-year-old, who retired in 2000 after 53 victories in 17 seasons, nearly won the UCI Road World Cup on three occasions and wore yellow for four days at the 1991 Tour de France. He is now a cycling commentator and agent and lives in Italy, where he is better known as Il Biondo due to the colour of his hair.