Serena Williams yesterday survived a scare from France’s Aravane Rezai before booking her spot in the Sydney International final against Russian Elena Dementieva.
The Australian Open champion was teetering on the brink of defeat after losing the first set and trailing 5-2 in the second but she raised her game to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.
While Williams had to dig deep, Dementieva had no real problems winning her semi-final against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Dementieva cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 victory at the Olympic tennis center to remain on course to defend her title.
France were at least assured of a place in the men’s final after Richard Gasquet and Julien Benneteau won their last-eight matches.
Gasquet, who resumed playing this month after being cleared over a positive cocaine test, defeated Italy’s Potito Starace 6-3, 7-6 and Benneteau beat Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-4, 6-7, 6-0.
PHOTO: AFP
Former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus also reached the semi-finals by beating Australian Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. He next meets American Mardy Fish, who overcame Australia’s Peter Luczak 7-6 6-2.
■KOOYONG CLASSIC
PHOTO: EPA
AFP, MELBOURNE
US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro yesterday pulled out of his final tune-up match prior to the Australian Open, citing a wrist injury.
His withdrawal was mirrored by Robin Soderling, who quit a semi-final trailing 6-4 against Ivan Ljubicic to avoid doing himself more elbow damage ahead of the season’s opening Grand Slam.
The Del Potro decision puts Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga into tomorrow’s final against Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, who beat Novak Djokovic 6-1, 6-2.
■HOBART INTERNATIONAL
REUTERS, SYDNEY
Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues recovered from a loss of concentration yesterday to secure her place in the semi-finals of the Hobart International, one of the last events before the Australian Open.
The top seed defeated Argentina’s Gisela Dulko 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 to set up a meeting with Alona Bondarenko today after the Ukrainian fourth seed defeated China’s Zheng Jie 7-5, 7-5.
Unseeded Sara Errani of Italy also progressed to the last four by beating Belgian qualifier Kirsten Flipkens 6-3, 6-4.
Errani will play second seed Shahar Peer after the Israeli beat Spanish fifth seed Carla Suarez Navarro 4-6, 7-6, 7-5.
■HEINEKEN OPEN
AFP, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
Giant American John Isner yesterday called on every centimenter of his 206cm frame yesterday to upset Tommy Robredo in their Heineken Open quarter-final. The unseeded American fired 20 booming aces and a powerful barrage of ground strokes to down the world No. 16 with a 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-4 victory.
Isner will play Albert Montanes in today’s semi-final after the eighth seed had a relatively easy 6-3, 6-3 victory over Swiss qualifier Michael Lammer.
Arnaud Clement beat sixth-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-2, 7-5. The 32-year-old world No. 67 will face a semi-final clash against 2008 Auckland champion Philipp Kohlschreiber, who defeated Marc Gicquel 6-3, 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