Venus Williams needed just 49 minutes to reach the third round of the Family Circle Cup, defeating Vasilisa Bardina 6-2, 6-1 on Wednesday in a match briefly suspended because of rain.
Williams, ranked No. 29, has been slowed by a wrist injury and is playing in only her fourth tournament this year. Bardina, ranked No. 55, broke serve to open the match, but from then on had problems handling Williams' serve.
Williams, who won the Family Circle three years ago, next meets Taiwan's Chan Yung-jan, who advanced on Tuesday when Williams' sister, Serena, retired with a pulled groin.
PHOTO: AP
Five top players -- Martina Hingis, Maria Sharapova, Amelie Mauresmo, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Justine Henin -- withdrew before the tournament because of injuries.
"I definitely feel like my game is coming around," Williams said. "I felt like in some of the games I'd make two or three errors and I've really got to cut back on that, but I feel confident."
Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, the highest remaining seed at No. 2, also had an easy day, defeating Anastasia Rodionova of Russia 6-1, 6-1.
Sixth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland was upset by Shuai Peng of China, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the Wednesday evening match.
Earlier, fourth-seeded Dinara Safina of Russia, ranked No. 13, defeated Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 6-3, 6-4. Fifth-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel lost to Zheng Jie of China 6-2, 6-3. Ana Ivanovic of Serbia defeated Gisela Dulko of Argentina 6-0, 6-7 (5), 6-4.
Tatiana Golovin of France, who won her first tour title last week at Amelia Island, Florida, advanced to the third round with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Jill Craybas of the US.
Other second-round winners included Mara Santangelo of Italy, Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain, Vera Zvonareva of Russia and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain. Sybille Bammer of Austria advanced when Virginie Razzano of France retired with an upset stomach. Bammer was up 6-0, 3-0.
Medina Garrigues beat Francesca Schiavone of Italy 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 while Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia defeated Aravane Rezai of France, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 7-5.
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