Portuguese teen phenom Michelle Larcher de Brito booked a shot at Slovakian 16th seed Daniela Hantuchova with a first-round victory at the US$6.9 million Sony Ericsson Open on Wednesday.
The first Portuguese player in the main draw of an elite WTA tier one event, Larcher de Brito shrugged off rain delays to beat US veteran Meghann Shaughnessy 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7/3).
A product of the Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida, Brito is ranked 64th in juniors, the only player in the top 200 born in 1993. She was able to rally against Shaughnessy, who is nearly twice her age and has five career WTA Tour titles.
PHOTO: AFP
The youngster's reward is a match with Hantuchova, who ended a five-year victory drought last week by winning at Indian Wells.
American Vania King earned a second-round match with second-seeded Belgian Justine Henin with a 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 victory over China's Sun Tiantian.
Henin skipped the Australian Open for personal reasons but has since won tournaments in Doha and Dubai.
Belgian Kim Clijsters, the fourth seed, will face Japan's Akiko Morigami, who who eliminated Canadian wild card Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1, 7-5.
Russian Maria Sharapova is the top seed, and will be trying to bounce back from a disappointing fourth-round exit at Indian Wells.
Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia is seeded, third, while Serena Williams, playing for the first time since she trounced Sharapova in the Australian Open final, is seeded 13th.
Like Sharapova, men's top seed Roger Federer is coming off an upset loss and should be on the defensive when he meets either Igor Andreev of Russia or American wild card Sam Querrey.
Federer took a staggering 41-match winning streak into Indian Wells but was unceremoniously dismissed in straight sets in his first match by Guillermo Canas of Argentina.
Canas returned from a 15-month drug suspension in September and has been playing his way back into form. He had to qualify for the main draw of this hardcourt event and will meet Britain's Tim Henman in the first round.
Defending champion Federer could meet Canas again in the round of 16.
The second seed is Rafael Nadal of Spain, who capitalized on Federer's absence to storm to victory in the California desert.
Nadal's first match will be against Brazil's Ricardo Mello, who defeated Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic 6-1, 7-6 (7/3) on Wednesday.
Roddick is seeded third and will play Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina, who eased past Hyung-Taik Lee of Korea, 6-4, 6-2.
ATP ends experiment
This season's ill-starred experiment with a round-robin format was killed off on Wednesday by the ATP, with the traditional knock-out format returning to all events.
Since starting in the first week of the year in Adelaide, only five events were played under the group plan, with confusion a common factor during all tournament weeks.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with
When 42-1 underdog James ‘Buster’ Douglas shocked ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson 34 years ago at the Tokyo Dome, the result reverberated worldwide. Spectators at the 45,000-plus seater venue witnessed one of boxing’s biggest upsets as unbeaten heavyweight champion Tyson was knocked out in the 10th round by the unheralded Douglas in February 1990. Boxing returns to the famous venue on Monday for the first time since that unforgettable encounter when Japan’s undisputed super-bantamweight world champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue puts his belts on the line against Mexican Luis Nery. The 31-year-old Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) is a huge star in Japan and is just
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at