Wimbledon champ Venus Williams survived some jitters and Francesca Schiavone posted an upset win as the US and Italy split their opening Fed Cup semi-final matches against Russia and France.
Williams posted a 7-6 (8/6), 0-6, 6-4 victory over Nadia Petrova on Saturday to deliver a needed point for the US against Russia.
The victory in the second singles match put the Americans level at 1-1 after the first day of the best-of-five-match tie.
PHOTO: AFP
Italy was also at 1-1 against France after Schiavone registered her second straight Fed Cup victory over Amelie Mauresmo.
All eyes were focused on Williams on the hard court at Topnotch, as she was expected to carry the US in the absence of her younger sister Serena, who is nursing an injury sustained at Wimbledon.
Her win proved even more important as 18-year-old Vania King dropped a 6-1, 6-3 decision to Anna Chakvetadze in the opening match.
Despite losing the first three games, Williams rallied to take the first set in a tiebreaker.
Petrova responded by blowing past Williams in the second to force a third set.
In the deciding set, Williams overcame a break of serve that left her down 3-4 by winning the last three games.
Mauresmo lost for the fourth time in eight meetings against the experienced Schiavone, going down in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 on a day when on-court temperatures shot up to 42oC.
Earlier in the day, Tatiana Golovin had given France a winning start to the tie beating Tathiana Garbin 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
Mauresmo was 5-3 ahead in the opening set but Schiavone then reeled off the next four games to take it 7-5. The Italian then dominated the second set much to the delight of the home fans.
The win was Schiavone's third in a row over the former world number one.
"I love playing for my country and it is the first time that I win in front of my home crowd," the Italian said.
Taiwan were all square with Croatia after the first day of their Fed Cup tie in Split on Saturday.
The day began badly as Taiwanese No.1 Chan Yung-jan was thrashed 6-0, 6-3 by Nika Ozegovic, a player ranked 69 places lower on the singles rankings.
However, their prospects looked a lot brighter after Hsieh Su-wei beat top Croatian player Jelena Kostanic Tosic 7-6, 6-4. The 21-year-old boosted her Fed Cup record to an impressive 10 wins and five defeats by downing the world No. 90.
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