Jelena Dokic continued her spectacular comeback yesterday, leading Australia to a comprehensive 3-0 win over South Korea in their opening Fed Cup Asia-Oceania Group I clash.
The former world No. 4 said she was nervous ahead of her first appearance for Australia in the women’s team event since 2000, but cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Lee Jin-a, ranked a lowly No. 305 in the world.
World No. 43 Samantha Stosur then wrapped up the Group A tie for the host nation with a 6-2, 6-4 win over the 226th-ranked Lee Ye-ra. Casey Dellacqua and Rennae Stubbs completed a clean sweep with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Chang Kyung-mi and Lee Jin-a in the doubles.
PHOTO: AFP
The 25-year-old Dokic, who emerged from years in the tennis wilderness with a remarkable run to the Australian Open quarter-finals last month, said she had plenty in reserve after beating an opponent whom she admitted she did not even know was left-handed before the match.
In front of just a few hundred fans, a far cry from the packed crowds in Melbourne, Dokic’s only hiccup came when she served for the match at 5-1 in the second set and was broken by Lee.
“There were a lot of feelings going into this match,” said Dokic, who has climbed to 91 in the rankings following her run at the Australian Open.
Also in Group B, Thailand were off to the perfect start with a 3-0 win over Taiwan.
Tamarine Tanasugarn, the highest-ranked singles player here, at No. 41, beat Chan Chin-wei (詹謹瑋) 6-2, 6-0 to seal the tie after Suchanun Viratprasert beat Hwang I-hsuan (黃怡萱) in the opening singles 7-6 (7-3), 6-1.
In Group A, India, without injured star Sania Mirza, slumped to a 3-0 loss to New Zealand.
Mirza, who won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open, withdrew from the tournament due to an abdominal strain, leaving the low-ranked trio of Rushmi Chakravarthi, Ankita Bhambri and Sanaa Bhambri to tackle the Kiwis.
In the other Group A match, Indonesia upset Uzbekistan 2-1.
The Indonesian pairing of Sandy Gumulya and Ayu Fani Damayanti clinched the tie with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) win over Akgul Amanmuradova and Albina Khabibulina in the deciding doubles.
The round-robin group ties continue until tomorrow, with the top side from each group meeting in Saturday’s final.
The winner advances to the World Group II playoffs in April.
In Asia/Oceania Group II, Hong Kong beat Iran 3-0, while Kazakhstan swept Singapore 3-0.
■SA TENNIS OPEN
AFP, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
Big guns Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France and David Ferrer of Spain cruised into the second round of the rain-interrupted SA Tennis Open on Tuesday.
Top seed Tsonga gradually took control of Brazilian Thiago Alves to record a 6-4, 6-1 center-court win in 54 minutes at Montecasino entertainment center in an upmarket suburb of Johannesburg.
And after trailing 2-0 in the opening set, second seed Ferrer won 12 games in a row to overcome Israel Davis Cup star Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-0 and set up a clash with German Simon Greul.
Other winners were Czezh Ivo Minar, Portuguese Frederico Gil, Swiss Marco Chiudinelli, Belgian Kristof Vliegan, Frenchman Jeremy Chardy and Uzbek Denis Istomin on courts that were a car park just three months ago.
The biggest surprise was the elimination of South African No. 1 Kevin Anderson, who failed to emulate compatriots and shock first-day winners Rik de Voest and Raven Klaasen as he slumped 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 to Minar.
■ZAGREB INDOORS
AP, ZAGREB
Top-seeded Igor Andreev was stunned by 425th-ranked Ivan Dodig 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the Zagreb Indoors on Tuesday.
Andreev had gone three rounds at the Australian Open, but the Russian said on Tuesday he “wasn’t playing my best tennis.”
Evgeny Korolev of Russia beat Juergen Melzer 6-4, 6-0, Mischa Zverev of Germany topped Andreas Seppi 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2, Viktor Troicki of Serbia downed Simone Bolelli 6-3, 6-4, and defending champion Sergiy Strakhovsky, who won the 2008 title as a lucky loser, beat veteran Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.
Third-seeded Ivo Karlovic, Mario Ancic, Jan Hernych and Ernests Gulbis also advanced.
■MOVISTAR OPEN
AP, VINA DEL MAR, CHILE
Argentine qualifier Maximo Gonzalez beat Serbia’s Boris Pashanski 6-3, 6-2 at the Movistar Open on Tuesday for his first win on the ATP Tour in seven months.
The bonus: A second-round match with Fernando Gonzalez, the top seed and three-time defending champion of his home event.
In the other early match, Brian Dabul upset fellow Argentine Diego Junqueira 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-1.
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