Top-seed Andre Agassi easily advanced to the quarterfinals of the Washington Classic on Thursday with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Kristian Pless to extend his winning streak to eight matches.
Agassi broke the unseeded Dane's serve in the third game of the match and was never threatened after that in the opening set. He repeated the feat at the same stage of the second set and coasted to victory from there.
The American next meets Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, who advanced with a 7-6 6-4 win over Adrian Garcia.
A five-time winner of the event, Agassi has reached the quarterfinals in Washington for the seventh consecutive time.
In other matches, Gilles Muller of Luxembourg scored a 7-5 5-7 6-2 win over American Jan-Michael Gambill, and Switzerland's Michel Kratochvil also advanced with a 7-6 7-6 victory over eighth-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursinov.
Muller and Kratochvil will face each other in the last eight.
Cincinnati Open
Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport rallied to defeat fellow American Lilia Osterloh, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open.
She extended her winning streak to 15 matches with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win.
Davenport, who elected not to take part in the Athens Olympics, captured three consecutives tournaments in three weeks this year and is 46-6 overall in 2004.
Davenport moves on to play Italy's Flavia Pennetta who beat Rita Grande. Pennetta reached the quarters by beating Grande 6-7 (1/7), 6-2, 6-4.
Russian Vera Zvonareva of Russia also advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) win over Italian Antonella Serra Zanetti.
Second seeded Zvonareva's opponent will be Chinese qualifier Peng Shuai.
Unseeded Laura Granville, of the US, also secured a spot in the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-1 upset of fifth-seeded Denisa Chldkova.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two