Lu Yen-hsun’s first singles title of the year in the US$100,000 Israel Open earned him valuable ranking points on Saturday and evoked memories of the special place the city holds in his career.
Second-seeded in the second-tier Challenger Tour event being played in Ramat Hasharon, Lu was leading German Benjamin Becker 6-3, 3-1 and had just saved a break point when Becker pulled out with an ailing right shoulder.
In accepting the trophy, Lu fondly recalled Ramat Hasharon as the place where he won singles and doubles titles in the same week for the first time in his career, during a third-tier Futures event in 2002, his second year as a pro. He said it made him very happy to be able to return and win a higher-level singles event.
PHOTO: AFP
The title could not have come at a better time. Lu had failed to win more than two matches in any tournament this year, and entering the week with a sore back that forced him to retire in the quarter-finals of a Challenger event in Tenerife, Spain, last week, the world No. 67 did not know what to expect.
But he swept through his five matches without losing a set and rarely found himself in trouble against the dangerous Becker, who has been ranked as high as No. 38 and had won his last two tournaments, both Challenger events on hard courts.
Lu broke Becker in the fourth game of the first set and the third game of the second set to establish his superiority, while having to save only one break point, in what turned out to be the final game of the match when Becker was making a last stand.
“Holding my serve in that game was really key, because that led Becker to give in,” Lu said. “My return of serve was also very good and I was able to convert break opportunities when I got them.”
As was the case during much of the tournament, Lu had trouble with his first serve, getting it in at only a 49 percent rate, but managed to stay out of danger by winning 73 percent of his service points. He converted two of four break chances.
For winning the title, the 25-year-old earned US$14,400 and 90 ranking points, which will help offset the 186 points he will use later this month and preserve his high ranking.
Ranked in the top 70 since the beginning of the year, Lu has played mostly in top-tier ATP Tour events this year, making it more difficult to rack up victories and ranking points. But with the ATP Tour now focusing on clay, a surface the 25-year-old has never felt comfortable on, Lu is playing in hard court Challenger events to pick up points.
He is entered in another hard court Challenger tournament in Turkey this week, where he is the top seed and should not face much resistance before the quarter-finals. After that, he is scheduled to play in a clay court tourney in Austria ahead of the French Open.
■ITALIAN OPEN
AP, ROME
Top-ranked Dinara Safina won her first title of the year on Saturday by routing fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the Italian Open.
Safina avenged a loss to Kuznetsova in the final of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, a week ago. She had also lost two other finals this year, including the Australian Open.
■ESTORIL OPEN
AFP, ESTORIL, PORTUGAL
James Blake would have to engineer a serious comeback yesterday after his rain-interrupted Estoril Open semi-final against Nikolay Davydenko was suspended by darkness on Saturday.
Davydenko, the 2003 winner, led Blake as the American played his first-ever European claycourt semi-final 7-6 (7/3), 2-4 in a match which was delayed by the weather and also interrupted after only four games had been played.
The winner will need a quick turnaround to face Spain’s seventh seed Alberto Montanes, who squeezed in his semi-final victory through the showers, beating Paul Capdeville of Chile 6-3, 6-4.
■SERBIA OPEN
AFP, BELGRADE
Top seed and world No. 3 Novak Djokovic came from a set down to beat Italian fourth seed Andreas Seppi 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 and reach the final of the inaugural Serbia Open on Saturday, where he will face Lukasz Kubot of Poland, who reached his first career final with a 7-6 (7/0), 6-2 win over Croatian Ivo Karlovic.
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