Legal trouble for Hornets’ Bridges
Hornets forward Miles Bridges’ latest legal issues have clouded his future on and off the basketball court. A criminal summons that was issued Wednesday for Bridges accuses him of violating a protection order stemming from a domestic violence case that derailed his career last year. The summons also includes accusations of misdemeanor child abuse and injury to personal property. In addition, a warrant for a protection order violation was issued for Bridges in January, although it hasn’t yet been served. Bridges, 25, is currently serving three years of probation after pleading no contest in exchange for no jail time in the June 2022 domestic violence case involving the mother of his two children, who accused Bridges of assaulting her in front of the children. Bridges also must adhere to a 10-year criminal protection order for the woman, weekly narcotics and marijuana testing, and restitution. He’s currently serving a 10-game suspension from the NBA to begin the season. It remains to be seen if Bridges could face further discipline from the league.
Korda earns breakthrough victory
Sebastian Korda reached the semifinals at a Masters tournament for the first time by rallying to beat Ben Shelton 6-7, (10), 6-2, 7-6 (6) on Thursday at the Shanghai Masters. It was the first all-American Masters quarterfinal match since 2017 and both players were two points from winning at the end. “I’m just thankful to stay calm,” said Korda, who won on his sixth match point. “I played some bad points but I always believed in myself, even at 6-6 (in the final tiebreaker). I just thought about putting the return in the court, somehow getting my racquet on it and luckily I finished it off then.” The 23-year-old Korda also reached the semifinals at the Zhuhai Open and the Astana Open on the tour’s Asia swing. The 19th-seeded Shelton, who made the semifinals of the U.S. Open this year but was playing in his first Masters quarterfinal, had 17 aces, but Korda broke his serve five times. He will face Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in the semifinals. The 23-year-old Korda is the son of 1998 Australian Open champ Petr Korda and the younger brother of LPGA Tour players Jessica and Nelly Korda.
Ex-F1 CEO Ecclestone pleads guilty
Former Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone was given a suspended prison sentence Thursday after he pleaded guilty to a fraud charge over his failure to declare millions of dollars held in a trust in Singapore to Britain’s government. The 92-year-old billionaire agreed to a civil settlement of 652.6 million pounds ($803 million) over funds that were owed to Britain’s tax office over the course of 18 years. Ecclestone was handed a 17-month term, suspended for two years, at Southwark Crown Court in London. Earlier Thursday, he pleaded guilty to a charge that he failed to declare a trust in Singapore with a bank account containing around $650 million when he was asked in 2015 about any trusts abroad that he was involved in. A judge described his offense as serious, but added he had taken into consideration factors including Ecclestone’s health and age when handing down the sentence. The business magnate headed Formula 1 for for four decades from the 1970s to 2017, when he stepped down as CEO. —AP