Former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt made a winning return from hip surgery yesterday, but couldn’t prevent Australia’s narrow 2-1 defeat to Germany in the Hopman Cup.
Hewitt was impressive in his 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Nicolas Kiefer, but the German took his revenge with a thrilling match tie-break win in the decisive mixed doubles 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 10-5.
“It has been close to five months since I played a match and it has been a long time coming,” said Hewitt, 27, after the singles match. “It was a great way to start the year. ”
Hewitt ended last year ranked 68th, the first time he had been outside the top 50 since 1998. He was playing for the first time since his operation after the Beijing Olympics in August.
The former US Open and Wimbledon champion appeared to be moving freely in his comeback match as he recovered from a set down against Kiefer, who has been ranked as high as fourth, but has also had injury problems.
But the day’s star turned out to be German teenager Sabine Lisicki, who came from a set down to beat hometown favorite Casey Dellacqua in the women’s singles before helping Kiefer clinch the doubles.
The 19-year-old Lisicki reeled off the last three games of the singles match as Dellacqua dramatically imploded on her Hopman Cup debut, winning just one of the last 13 points after serving for the match.
“I was just fighting,” Lisicki said after the 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 win.
Despite the loss, Hewitt and Dellacqua looked set to clinch the Group A tie when they won the first set of the mixed doubles. But the German pair won the second set and dominated the match tie-break.
In the late match, Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova and Dominik Hrbaty defeated Meghann Shaughnessy and James Blake of the US.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set