German seeds Philipp Kohlschreiber and Andreas Beck advanced to the Open de Moselle quarter-finals on Wednesday.
The second-seeded Kohlschreiber rallied to beat countryman Bjorn Phau 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and will next face Evgeny Korolev of Russia, who defeated Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (2).
The seventh-seeded Beck broke French qualifier Thierry Ascione three times before winning 6-2, 6-4. Beck, a finalist in Gstaad, Switzerland, will play another Frenchman, Paul-Henri Mathieu.
The third-seeded Mathieu, the Metz runner-up last year, defeated Marc Gicquel 7-6 (5), 6-4 in an all-French matchup.
Mathieu earned a decisive mini break at 5-4 in the tiebreaker and took Gicquel’s serve in the opening game of the second set.
Also, French wild cards Michael Llodra and Sebastien Grosjean moved into the second round. Llodra, a finalist in Marseille, hit 15 aces in beating Mischa Zverev of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
■HANSOL-KOREA OPEN
STAFF WRITER
Maria Kirilenko’s title defense continues at the WTA Hansol Korea Open after her opponent in yesterday’s second-round match, third seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy, retired with the Russian leading 6-1, 1-2.
Schiavone had taken a medical time-out in the first set with what appeared to be an injury to her right thigh.
In yesterday’s other second-round matches, Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan beat Alisa Kleybanova of Russia 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to advance to the quarter-finals, while Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia defeated Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa 6-1, 6-1. Vera Dushevina of Russia beat Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 7-5, 6-1.
Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Abigail Spears of the US defeated Polish duo Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosolska 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to advance to the doubles semi-finals.
Also advancing were Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and China’s Yan Zi, who beat Andrea Petkovic of Germany and Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 4-6, 6-3, 12-10, while Russian duo Alisa Kleybanova and Ekaterina Makarova defeated Natalie Grandin of South Africa and Angela Haynes of the US 6-3, 6-3.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier