British number one Johanna Konta saved three match points - on her way to winning 11 straight points - to level her Morocco Open first-round match before going on to claim victory.

Konta, 27, saw off China's Yafan Wang, ranked 56th - nine places below the Briton - in a 4-6 7-6 (7-0) 6-4 win.

She was on the verge of defeat as she trailed 40-0 at 6-5 in the second set, only to stage a remarkable fightback.

"I'm very proud of myself, for the way I competed," Konta said.

"It was a tough match and I'm very happy to have battled through to find a way to win that second set and then come back from 3-1 down in the third.

"I also had match point at 5-3 so there was very little in the match."

Konta will play Romania's 132nd-ranked Ana Bogdan in the next round.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka has called on the ATP player council to act after Justin Gimelstob's sentencing for assault and end "a shameful period" for the sport.

Gimelstob, 42, is one of three player representatives on the ATP board.

The American, also a former player, received three years probation and 60 days community service after pleading "no contest" to a battery charge.

Swiss Wawrinka, 33, says players "need to speak out" about the subject.

The player council, led by 15-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia, has the power to remove Gimelstob, but would need the consent of at least six of its 10 members.

"It simply cannot be possible for anyone to condone this type of behaviour and, worse, support it," Wawrinka, who has won Australian Open, French Open and US Open titles, posted on social media.

"In any other business or sport we would not be discussing this.

"The ATP council needs to do something about this and finally end this conversation and shameful period in our great sport."

Wawrinka's comments come after Britain's Andy Murray became the first leading player to call on Gimelstob to quit his role on the ATP board.

Gimelstob, who has also worked as a coach and TV commentator, was sentenced in Los Angeles last week.

Former friend Randall Kaplan alleged that early in the evening of 31 October, Gimelstob "punched him in the head and face more than 50 times" in front of Kaplan's pregnant wife Madison and two-year-old daughter.

Mrs Kaplan went on to have a miscarriage, which the couple believe was a result of the stress of the attack.

"I don't see, with everything that has gone on, how it's possible for him to remain in a position of authority or management at the ATP right now," Murray told The Telegraph.

Following Gimelstob's sentencing, the ATP said his future was a "subject for review by the board and/or the player council".

It added: "The election for the role of the next Americas player representative on the ATP board - the position currently held by Gimelstob - will take place as scheduled on Tuesday, 14 May in Rome."

WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. – An unexpected one-off race appearance for Kraig Kinser’s crew chief may have played a part in the team’s recent string of constructive finishes.

Before Kinser’s crew chief Mike Kuemper ran the team’s back-up car at Arizona Speedway in April, Kinser had missed a Feature and finished no better than 15th.

Afterward, he scored two top-10s in a row – including one top-five finish – went quick time in qualifying, won a DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash and led laps at Devil’s Bowl Speedway.

Kuemper – who has experience racing with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series – only ran five laps of the feature at Arizona Speedway, but he said it was enough to gather newfound knowledge that could help Kinser.

“I learned some stuff in the way the car is driving and handling a little bit, trying to get it better for him with me being in it for those short amount of laps,” Kuemper said. “It helped out, because I went back to his car and did a little bit to his.”

What he deduced was their shock package needed to be adjusted and some bars of the chassis needed to be changed around.

“After we got done running that (race at Arizona Speedway), we changed the car around,” Kuemper said.

Their string of good finishes has currently propelled Kinser into the top-10 in points – 132 points behind ninth-place Sheldon Haudenschild.

He and Kinser are looking to continue their recent run of positive finishes into a doubleheader race weekend – May 3 at Riverside Int’l Speedway in West Memphis, Ark., and May 4 at Tri-State Speedway in Kinser’s home state of Indiana.

“I love getting back home, running close to family,” said Kinser, who hails from Bloomington, Ind. “We don’t get too many chances in Indiana, so we try to make those count. Then, West Memphis … I’m just looking forward to the whole weekend.”

Both tracks are quarter-mile speedways, but produced varying results for Kinser last year.

He found the top-10 at Riverside, while finishing 15th at Tri-State – a track Kinser acknowledged he is usually “hit or miss” at.

Even though the Arkansas track favored him last year, Kinser has his eye on racing back home in front of friends and family.

“Being from southern Indiana, my family’s been to Haubstadt for a long, long time,” Kinser said. “I grew up watching and racing there. Got to see a lot of good non-wing races, a lot of good winged races there, too. It’s a good track not too far from home.”

His father, 20-time World of Outlaws champion Steve Kinser, won at Tri-State Speedway seven times. Kraig Kinser is still looking for his first victory at the speedway – and his first since 2017.

A home state win at Tri-State would definitely be mean a lot to him, Kraig Kinser said.

In general, Kraig, Kuemper and the Steve Kinser Racing team are looking to just keep their streak of good finishes rolling into doubleheader races.

“We’re trying to take the positives into that weekend,” Kinser said. “We’re hoping for the best and doing what we can do.”

LAS VEGAS — A few weeks ago, Austin Forkner appeared on his way to winning the Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250 East regional championship. Now his season is over.

Forkner confirmed in an Instagram post that the ACL in his left knee is completely torn and that he will soon undergo season-ending knee surgery.

Forkner entered the Nashville round of the series on April 6 with a 26-point lead, but was injured in a crash during qualifying. After a two-week break, Forkner attempted to ride in the penultimate round of the season at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., but the stress on the injured knee was too much for him to overcome.

“The extent of my knee was a fully torn ACL. Not a half tear, not a quarter tear. It was fully torn and that’s a big difference,” Forkner said. “Fully torn is tough and there is no stability. I also tore my meniscus and I think a slight tear and beat up my MCL. I also chipped some cartilage off of my femur and had a massive bone bruise from where the tib-fib and femur clanked together.”

Forkner entered the MetLife Stadium round with a three-point lead, but still competed.

“It popped out a few times in practice and it was really sore,” he said. “Honestly, I could barely even walk going to the gate for the races. Pretty much, what you saw in the heat race was as fast as I could go and the best I could ride with my knee in control, with me having control of my knee and without it popping out.”

Forkner qualified third and was running second when his knee let go less than three minutes into the main event.

“Whenever I jumped and landed into the face of the wall, the thing just buckled. At that point, there is no kind of knee brace… that’s going to save it, because that’s what your ACL is supposed to do and it’s gone,” Forkner said. “Obviously, I’m super-bummed and I don’t have a lot to say.”

Forkner will also miss the motocross season and plans to return in time for the 2020 Supercross campaign.

“We’ll be back in 2020 supercross. I’m already itching to ride again and I haven’t even gotten surgery yet,” he said. “It’s going to be a long recovery, but I’ll be seeing you guys in a few months.”

CONCORD, N.C. – Coca-Cola Racing Family driver Austin Dillon took part in a unique chase on Tuesday at Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach.

Dillon, who will chase his second Coca-Cola 600 win in three years next month, joined Paul Swan and Ethan Tingler from his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing crew for an in-depth, search-and-rescue mission as part of Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Mission 600 – a series of interactive, regional military base visits in conjunction with the Department of Defense.

Dillon climbed aboard a 45-foot RBM (Response Boat – Medium) with his crew and members of Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach to learn the intricacies of a Coast Guard rescue mission in the Atlantic Ocean.

Additionally, the 2017 Coca-Cola 600 winner took the opportunity to guide the RBM before he participated in rescue rope training exercises on shore.

“It was awesome,” Dillon said of his first Coast Guard visit. “Those boats are unbelievable machines. It’s like driving a big jet ski. We had a blast just seeing how smooth they are and listening to how the guys go through everything, they’re very good at what they do.

“I’m jealous that they get to whip around out there on those boats to save lives. It’s a very cool experience to see all the hard work they put into taking over these jobs. I really thank them for their service.”

Dillon has sampled life in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Coast Guard in his first two Mission 600 visits, both of which gave the Welcome, N.C., native a new perspective in his appreciation for the military.

As part of the 600 Miles of Remembrance program, Dillon will carry the name of a fallen member of the U.S. Armed Forces on his race car’s windshield during the Coca-Cola 600.

“It’s very special,” Dillon said. “I feel like our fallen soldiers ride along with us. Their families become a part of our racing family. The Coca-Cola 600 and Memorial Day weekend is probably my favorite weekend of the year.

“When we have the flyovers and everything that goes into that race, the preview of it is fun for us to watch and see the military represented so well.”

Chief Petty Officer Jeremy Thomas was among the members who hosted Dillon and his crew on Tuesday.

“It was great to see the interaction between Coast Guard members and Austin and his crew,” Thomas said. “It looked they had a lot of fun. That’s the goal: to give them a chance to enjoy themselves and see a day in the life of the Coast Guard.”

CINCINATTI, Ohio – Richard Hoffman, one of the owners of the legendary Hoffman Auto Racing open-wheel team, died on Tuesday. He was 76.

Hoffman wrenched entries over the years that earned a total of 11 AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Series owner’s championships, wearing the crown in 1989, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2014 and 2016.

His champion drivers through the years included the legendary Rich Vogler, as well as Robbie Stanley, Dave Darland, Tracy Hines, Jerry Coons Jr. and Brady Bacon, who authored Hoffman’s most recent USAC owner’s crown three years ago.

“It’s hard to even put into words what Richard meant to the sport,” said USAC Series Coordinator Levi Jones. “It doesn’t seem possible he won’t be with us in the pits anymore.  He was a fierce competitor and a staple of the series. Over the years, racing has made us all feel like family. He was always somebody you could lean on for advice and someone who was always there for the betterment of the sport.”

Born Sept. 2, 1942 in Cincinatti, Ohio, Richard Hoffman started his tenure in racing working for his father, Gus Hoffman, during the very first year of the United States Auto Club in 1956.

The Hoffman Auto Racing team came to USAC at the behest of Mari Hulman, who saw the team’s success building and invited them personally to race the circuit.

Then-crew chief Mutt Anderson suggested moving from midget to sprint car racing, and the rest – as they say – is history.

Hoffman’s first USAC win came in 1956 with Eddie Sachs driving one of the team’s midgets, not long before their move to sprint cars, and led to a total of 116 USAC victories over the past six-plus decades.

Bacon earned the team’s most recent score at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway on April 19, during the running of the Larry Rice Classic.

Among those who drove for Hoffman and won races in his equipment were Jim Hemmings, Larry Cannon, Steve Butler, Cary Faas, Kenny Irwin Jr., Andy Michner, Brian Tyler, Jon Stanbrough, Daron Clayton, Kyle Larson, Darren Hagen, Chad Boespflug and Kevin Thomas Jr., as well as the six champion drivers he fielded during his legendary career.

Richard Hoffman was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2013.

Aside from his sprint car accomplishments, he also earned seven USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series wins as a team owner, with the likes of Johnny Parsons, Pat Abold and Brian Tyler, who captured the 1999 Copper World Classic at Phoenix Int’l Raceway (now ISM Raceway).

Bacon paid tribute to Hoffman, for whom he has driven for this season and also drove a prior stint for as well, late Tuesday with a statement on social media.

“We are all deeply saddened by the loss of a great man,” said Bacon. “Please keep your thoughts and prayers with the family of Richard Hoffman. It’s truly been an honor to drive for him over the last several years, and the relationship we were able to build over that time is something I will cherish.”

As of the most recent USAC national sprint car event, Hoffman’s Dynamic Inc. team sits seventh in the series standings thanks to Bacon’s efforts this year.

It’s a testament to Hoffman’s long-held drive to always strive for more with his operation.

“I still have racing in my blood,” said Richard Hoffman in the Oct. 2018 edition of SPEED SPORT Magazine. “I can’t stop messing with it because I still really enjoy it. Every year I look at circumstances and resources and see if we can keep racing.”

Right up until his passing, racing is exactly what Hoffman and his team did, too.