Venus Williams advanced to the quarterfinals of the Family Circle Cup Tennis Tournament in Charleston, South Carolina on Thursday with a routine 6-4 6-1 win over Switzerland's Marie-Gayanay Mikaelian.
The fourth-seeded Williams, the highest ranked player left in the tournament after the withdrawal of the top three seeds, wasted little time asserting her authority against the world number 84 to set up a last-eight clash against Vera Zvonereva.
PHOTO: AFP
Earlier, Second seed Serena Williams became the latest addition to the casualty list when she was forced to pull out of her match against Spain's Conchita Martinez due to a sore left knee.
She joined defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium and third-ranked Amelie Mauresmo of France, who pulled out of the event before playing a match, citing injuries and ill health.
Serena's absence was a blow for her sister.
"I love having her here," Venus said. "But in the end, I'm out on the court on my own and she's out there on her own."
It was also a bad day for 2001 champion Jennifer Capriati of the US after the seventh seed was ousted by Petra Mandula of Hungary 7-6 3-6 7-5.
Mandula moves on to a quarter-final showdown against Jelena Kostanic of Croatia, who defeated Dally Randriantefy of Madagascar 6-3 6-1
Fifth seeded American Lindsay Davenport continued her run of good form to cruise past Nicole Pratt of Australia 6-1 6-1.
Davenport won last week's event at Amelia Island and will now face Patty Schnyder of Switzerland in the last eight.
Seeded 11, Schnyder upset Russian sixth seed Elena Dementieva 6-3 6-1.
In other matches, eighth-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova defeated countrywoman Alina Jidkova 6-1 6-1 while their ninth seeded compatriot Zvonareva defeated Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi of Israel 6-4 6-0.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB