Klitschko Set For Peter Showdown

Former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko is set to challenge current title-holder Samuel Peter in October after four years out of the ring.

Klitschko, 36, from Ukraine, retired because of injury after stopping Britain’s Danny Williams in 2004.

But he announced plans for a comeback last year before having to delay them after undergoing spinal surgery.

The WBC says he will take on Peter even if he succeeds in his current campaign to be elected mayor of Kiev.

Klitschko’s younger brother Wladimir is the reigning WBO and IBF champion and is the only man to beat Peter in his 31-fight career.

And the Nigerian Nightmare has his sights set on avenging that loss against the elder Klitschko, with either 4 or 11 October the most likely dates for the fight.

Before that, however, Peter is set to make his first title defence in July, having won the WBC belt by stopping Oleg Maskev in six rounds two months ago.

¨ Novak Djokovic’s preparations for the French Open continued apace as he beat Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6 6-3 6-3 at the Rome Masters for a 10th career title. With a fortnight to go until Paris, Djokovic was keen to net a third title of the year but struggled to cope with Wawrinka’s backhand early in the match.

However, as the rallies grew longer, unforced errors crept into Wawrinka’s game and Djokovic slowly took control.

And the Serb broke three times to seal a victory in the decisive third set.

Wawrinka’s cause was not helped when he called the trainer on for a lower back injury at 2-3 and a break down in the final set, sparking concerns that Djokovic could see a third successive opponent retire injured.

However, the Swiss player did not appear to be too hampered thereafter, but Djokovic maintained his lead and broke again to close out the match in little more than two hours.

That came after Wawrinka won the opening set with a solitary break, even after a nervy start saw him double fault on his first service point, but he could not maintain the pressure as Djokovic eventually saw out a comfortable victory.