Tuchel’s Bayern Loses in Mainz, Bundesliga Lead under Threat

 Mainz's Leandro Barreiro celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the German Bundesliga match between 1. FSV Mainz 05 and FC Bayern Munich at the Mewa Arena in Mainz, Germany, Saturday, April 22, 2023. (AP)
Mainz's Leandro Barreiro celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the German Bundesliga match between 1. FSV Mainz 05 and FC Bayern Munich at the Mewa Arena in Mainz, Germany, Saturday, April 22, 2023. (AP)
TT

Tuchel’s Bayern Loses in Mainz, Bundesliga Lead under Threat

 Mainz's Leandro Barreiro celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the German Bundesliga match between 1. FSV Mainz 05 and FC Bayern Munich at the Mewa Arena in Mainz, Germany, Saturday, April 22, 2023. (AP)
Mainz's Leandro Barreiro celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the German Bundesliga match between 1. FSV Mainz 05 and FC Bayern Munich at the Mewa Arena in Mainz, Germany, Saturday, April 22, 2023. (AP)

Bayern Munich coach Thomas Tuchel endured a torrid return to his former club Mainz where his team squandered the lead and lost 3-1 in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Borussia Dortmund was two points behind Bayern and could go top later Saturday with a home win over Eintracht Frankfurt. Five rounds remain after this weekend.

Sadio Mané scored and Bayern looked set to stretch its league lead to five points. Mané got his seventh league goal when he headed in João Cancelo’s cross at the far post in the 29th minute.

But Mainz improved after the break and Ludovic Ajorque equalized in the 65th when Bayern’s defense was unable to clear the ball after a free kick. Leandro Barreiro scored the home team’s second in the 73rd, and six minutes later Spanish left back Aarón Martín marked his 26th birthday by scoring Mainz’s third.

Bayern’s loss increases the pressure on chief executive Oliver Kahn and sporting director Hasan Salihamidžić. They were already under scrutiny for their decision to fire coach Julian Nagelsmann before decisive games last month. Bayern has since crashed out of the Champions League and German Cup, and Nagelsmann’s replacement, Tuchel, has just two wins from seven games across all competitions.

Pál Dárdai’s return for his third stint as Hertha Berlin coach failed to inspire the team when it slumped to a 4-2 loss at home to Werder Bremen – a result that left Hertha on the bottom with little hope ahead of its visit to Bayern next weekend. Marvin Ducksch scored a hat trick for Bremen.

Wolfsburg routed Bochum 5-1 away, and Cologne won at Hoffenheim 3-1.



Medvedev Beats Monfils in Beijing. Draper Upsets Hurkacz in Japan

Russia's Daniil Medvedev celebrates after defeating France's Gael Monfils during the China Open tennis tournament held at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Russia's Daniil Medvedev celebrates after defeating France's Gael Monfils during the China Open tennis tournament held at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
TT

Medvedev Beats Monfils in Beijing. Draper Upsets Hurkacz in Japan

Russia's Daniil Medvedev celebrates after defeating France's Gael Monfils during the China Open tennis tournament held at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Russia's Daniil Medvedev celebrates after defeating France's Gael Monfils during the China Open tennis tournament held at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Daniil Medvedev safely navigated a tricky first outing at the China Open on Friday, winning 6-3, 6-4 against French veteran Gael Monfils.
The third-seeded Medvedev, runner-up to Jannik Sinner here last year, broke Monfils' serve three times in a dominant opening set, The Associated Press reported.
After trading breaks in a closer second set, former No. 1-ranked Medvedev clinched the match with another service break to seal the win in 92 minutes.
Roman Safiullin, who made the main draw as a lucky loser in qualifying, beat three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 6-4 and will face top-ranked Sinner.
No. 3-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, seeded second in Beijing, begins against No. 51 Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France later Friday.
In the women's draw, sixth-seeded Emma Navarro was upset by Chinese wildcard Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-2 in 75 minutes. The 35-year-old Zhang, a doubles specialist, played well above her current singles ranking of No. 595 as she took five of her seven breakpoint opportunities against the U.S. Open semifinalist.
Zhang will play Greet Minnen of Belgium, who beat 28th-seeded Anastasia Potapova 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, in the third round.
Also, 12th-seeded Diana Shnaider beat former Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin 6-2, 6-3 and Yuliia Starodubtseva had a 6-2, 6-2 win over 27th-seeded Katerina Siniakova.
Second-seeded Jessica Pegula was due open her tournament later Friday against Diane Parry of France, and Coco Gauff faced Clara Burel in a night match.
US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka plays Saturday against Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew. Top-ranked Iga Swiatek was not playing this week for personal reasons.
Japan Open Second-seeded Hubert Hurkacz lost 6-4, 6-4 to US Open semifinalist Jack Draper in the second round in Tokyo, a day after top-seeded Taylor Fritz and third-seeded Casper Ruud were eliminated from the tournament.
While the 22-year-old Draper and Hurkacz were evenly matched on aces and winners, it was the Polish player's 30 unforced errors, to Draper's 20, that proved costly.
Draper will next play either Brandon Nakashima or Ugo Humbert in the quarterfinals.
Defending champion Ben Shelton also progressed to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Mariano Navone. Shelton, along with Fritz, traveled to Japan from the Laver Cup in Berlin, where they represented Team World in a loss to Alcaraz’s Team Europe.