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Wednesday July 12, 2017

FERRARI has told Sebastian Vettel he just has to sign on the dotted line to stay with the Formula One team next season.

The cham-p i o n s h i p leader is out of contract at the end of the year, but Ferrari chair-man Sergio Marchionne set out his team’s position at the Austrian Grand Prix.

“I made it very clear that if he wants to stay then we’ll just renew it. It’s up to him,” Marchionne said before Sunday’s race.

Vettel has delayed contract talks to focus on the champion-ship battle, saying there will be plenty of time over the summer.

The German, a 4-time world champion, moved 20 points clear of closest rival Lewis Ham-ilton after fi nishing runner-up to the Briton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. (SD-Agencies)

AUSTRALIAN Jeff Horn’s shock welterweight title victory over Manny Pacquiao was confi rmed Monday after a scoring review by the World Boxing Organization (WBO) declared him the clear winner.

The WBO took a close look at the fi ght after Pacquiao, backed by the Philippine Government’s sports regulatory body, criticized the referee and the judges and demanded a review after losing in Brisbane on July 2.

Horn stunned the Filipino legend — who has won world titles in an unprecedented eight weight divisions — with his ultra-aggressiveness to earn a unani-mous 12-round decision.

The WBO — which does not have the power to reverse a decision unless fraud or law violations are proven — set up a panel of independent and anonymous judges who were asked to watch the bout without sound and determine who won each round.

The results were tabulated to show clearly the rounds each fi ghter won using an average scale based on 60, 80 and 100 percent, with three of the fi ve offi cials needing to be in agree-ment.

AFTER repeatedly digging him-self out of diffi cult situations, Rafael Nadal fi nally succumbed, broken in the last game of a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13 loss to 16th-seeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg at Wimbledon on Monday.

“I played with the right deter-mination, right passion, right attitude,” Nadal said, “to win the match.”

But he could not pull through, extending his drought without a quarterfi nal berth at the All Eng-land Club to six years.

“Just tried to hang in there,” Muller said. “Still kept believ-ing. Yeah, somehow in the end, I made it.”

Nadal won two of his 15 Grand Slam championships at Wimble-don, and played in the fi nal three other times, most recently in 2011. But since then, Nadal’s exits at the All England Club have come in the fi rst round (2013), second round (2012, 2015) or fourth round (2014, 2017).

All of those losses, except Monday’s, came against men ranked 100th or worse. The 34-year-old Muller is not exactly a giant-killer: He had lost 22 consecutive matches against players in the top fi ve. And he’d only reached a Grand Slam quar-terfi nal once before, at the 2008 U.S. Open.

Nadal said Muller’s powerful serve and crisp volleys make him “uncomfortable” to play.

Now Muller, who also beat Nadal at Wimbledon in 2005, will get a much-needed chance to recover before facing 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin

Cilic in the quarterfi nals.Other men’s quarterfi nals:

defending champion Andy Murray against Sam Querrey of the U.S., Roger Federer against Milos Raonic, Tomas Berdych against Novak Djokovic or Adrian Mannarino. The Djokovic-Man-narino fourth-rounder was post-poned until the next day; it had been scheduled for No. 1 Court after Nadal-Muller concluded.

But that duo played on and on, past 8 p.m., when the descend-ing sun’s refl ection off the arena bothered Nadal so much that he held up action; chair umpire Ali Nili asked spectators to stand in the way and block the rays. A few games later, Nili told fans to stop doing the wave, suggesting they wait for the next changeover so play could proceed.

Hours earlier came what might be interpreted as a bad omen for Nadal: Going through his prematch rituals on the way to the court, he jumped up so high that he banged his head on the doorway’s transom. He staggered back a bit, then tried to laugh it off, before rubbing the top of his head.

“Maybe that’s why the fi rst two sets I was winning quite easy,” Muller joked. “Maybe still a little bit feeling dizzy.”

After all, until Monday, Nadal hadn’t lost a Grand Slam set since the fi fth of the Australian Open fi nal in January against Federer. From the outset of the French Open — where he won a record 10th championship last month — and through his fi rst three matches at Wimbledon, Nadal won 28 consecutive

Nadal loses to Muller in 5-set thriller

ROMELU LUKAKU has offi cially joined Manchester United.

The Belgian striker has signed a fi ve-year contract with the Red Devils and although no transfer fee was listed, it is believed an initial sum of US$96 million was paid to Everton for the 24-year-old.

Speaking on United’s website after securing the deal, Lukaku revealed Monday his delight at joining Jose Mourinho’s men.

“I would like to start by thank-ing Everton and the fans for the last four wonderful seasons, I have made some special friends and we have shared some amaz-ing moments,” Lukaku said. “However, when Manchester United and Jose Mourinho come knocking at the door it is an opportunity of a lifetime and one that I could not turn down.

“You could see the fi ght, deter-mination and the spirit in this team during the Europa League fi nal and I want to become a part of that. I cannot wait to run out at Old Trafford in front of 75,000 fans but before that pre-season is where the hard work starts and I am looking forward to that fi rst training session.”

Lukaku is expected to play in United’s second game of their tour against Real Salt Lake in Utah on July 17.

“Romelu is a natural fi t for Manchester United. He is a big personality and a big player,” Mourinho said. “It is only natu-ral that he wants to develop his career at the biggest club. He will be a great addition to the group and I know they will make him very welcome. I am really look-ing forward to working with him again.”

Lukaku has been linked up with United during their pre-season tour of the U.S. as he is currently in Los Angeles, and by coincidence that’s where United will be based throughout their U.S. tour.

The Red Devils have acquired a player who scored 25 goals in the Premier League last season with only Harry Kane scoring more.

After leaving Chelsea perma-nently for Everton back in 2014, Lukaku became the main man at Goodison scoring 71 goals in 133 games in all competitions.

(SD-Agencies)

Romelu Lukaku

Lukaku joins Man United

completed sets at the majors. Healthy and playing terrifi cally, Nadal seemed poised to again be a factor at the All England Club.

From 2006-11, he reached the

fi nal in fi ve consecutive Wimble-dons (he missed it in 2009 because of bad knees), winning titles in 2008 and 2010.

(SD-Agencies)

WBO review rules Horn beat Pacquiao

A similar method has been used to review WBO title fi ghts before.

“Upon the analysis, the fi nd-ings stated that Pacquiao won the 3rd, the 8th and 9th by 100 percent; the 5th round was won by 80 percent; and the 11th round by 60 percent,” the WBO said in a statement.

“Horn won the 1st, 6th and 12th rounds by 100 percent; rounds 2, 4, and 7 by 80 percent; and then, the 10th round by 60 percent.

“From the results, it can be established that Pacquiao won fi ve rounds while Horn won seven rounds. Based on this

analysis, Jeff Horn was the winner of the bout.”

The original fi ght was scored 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113 by judges Waleksa Roldan, Chris Flores and Ramon Cerdan respectively.

Horn, a former schoolteacher, was written off before the bout by most observers. He welcomed the ruling as confi rming what he already knew.

“It gives me evidence behind me that I can just use now. Instead of saying I think I won the fi ght, now a heap of other people — professionally — think I won the fi ght,” he told reporters in Brisbane. (SD-Agencies)

Jeff Horn Manny Pacquiao

Ferrari: New contract up to Vettel

Spain’s Rafael Nadal reacts during his fourth round match against Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller at Wimbledon on Monday. SD-Agencies

Sebastian Vettel