WEDNESDAY SPORTS PAGE: PETES COME ALIVE

The Ontario Hockey League champion Peterborough Petes kept their Memorial Cup hopes alive on Tuesday night with a crucial 4-2 victory over the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Quebec Remparts in Kamloops, BC. With their first win of the four-team tournament, the Petes give themselves a chance to make the playoffs. The 2-1 Remparts were already guaranteed a spot in Sunday’s final before the game.

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The Toronto Blue Jays opened a three-game series on Tuesday night by thumping the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers 7-2. The Jays outhit the visitors 14-4 and got five solid innings from starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi. Vladimir Guerrero Junior and Alejandro Kirk each had three hits. The Jays have won four of their past seven games.

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The Nashville Predators have fired coach John Hynes more than a month after they missed the playoffs. Incoming general manager Barry Trotz said the decision was made to dismiss Hynes and assistant coach Dan Lambert after doing additional post-season evaluation. The Predators lost their first playoff series each of the past three seasons with Hynes in charge.

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Former B.C. Lions head coach Mike Benevides is returning to the team as a special teams consultant. The Lions also announced that special teams co-ordinator Don Yanowsky will not be with the team this season due to unexpected family matters.

Benevides spent 12 years with the Lions, starting as a special teams and linebackers coach before getting the head coaching job from 2012-2014.

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The Ottawa BlackJacks hit 18 threes at a 64 percent rate on Tuesday night to earn a decisive 93-82 victory over the Scarborough Shooting Stars at TD Place. Meanwhile two days after a record-breaking comeback in Target Score Time, the Calgary Surge (3-0) once again used a late run to knock off the Niagara River Lions (0-2) 85-82 at the Winsport Arena on Tuesday night.

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Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ontario and Gael Monfils of Paris captured the hearts of tennis fans who love a good comeback story at the French Open on Tuesday. Andreescu lost her opening set 6-2 to 18th-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, before bouncing back with 6-3, 6-4 wins in her two-hour, 30-minute first-round match. Monfils, who fought cramps during and after his three-hour, 48-minute marathon win over Sebastian Baez of Argentina, had fans singing and chanting as he erased a 4-0 fifth-set deficit to post the win.

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There was a major upset in men’s action at the French Open. Second-seeded Daniil Medvedev lost his first-round match to Thiago Seyboth Wild. The 23-year-old Brazilian is ranked 172nd in the world and was playing only his second match in the main draw of any Grand Slam.

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Canada dug itself an early hole and fell 5-2 to the defending champion United States on Tuesday in group play at the CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship. Amanda Allen and Nyah Rose replied for Canada, which trailed 3-0 at halftime. As Group A runner-up, Canada will face Group B winner Mexico in Friday’s semifinal. The Americans will play Group B runner-up Costa Rica in the other semifinal.

(Canadian Press)