Third-seeded Sam Querrey reached the final of the US Men’s Clay Court Championships on Saturday with a victory over Wayne Odesnik, who was playing with the threat of a drugs ban looming.
Querrey, who said before the match that he would “refuse to lose” to Odesnik, triumphed 7-6 (7/3), 1-6, 7-5, rallying from a third-set deficit.
Odesnik pleaded guilty in an Australian court on March 26 to importing human growth hormone into Australia.
He has denied taking the banned performance enhancer and is playing pending an investigation by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) that could result in a suspension.
Regardless of the outcome of the probe, Querrey said Odesnik owed the sport an apology.
“I think you have to wait and find the verdict at the end of it all,” Querrey said. “Yeah, he should apologize.”
Odesnik made the most of Querrey’s struggles with his serve, but surrendered the match along with his own serve in the final game.
In the final, Querrey will face Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela, who beat sixth-seeded Argentine Horacio Zeballos 7-5, 6-2.
Querrey shook hands with his compatriot at the end of their match, but he was brusque with him during the contest.
When Querrey questioned an Odesnik ace in the first-set tiebreaker, Odesnik said: “It was good.”
Querrey retorted: “I don’t need your input, buddy.”
Odesnik had the upper hand after breaking Querrey in the fifth game of the third set, but Querrey broke back in the sixth and overcame two double-faults to hold his serve in the seventh.
Odesnik won only one point in the final game as Querrey closed it out with an overhead.
■MPS CHAMPIONSHIPS
AFP, PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA
Caroline Wozniacki had one foot out the door on Saturday, but managed to hang on for a three-set victory over Elena Vesnina and a chance for a second straight title at the WTA Tour green clay tournament.
“I thought I was out already,” said the top-seeded Dane, who trailed 5-3 in the second set, before rallying for a 1-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 victory. “I said: ‘Keep fighting, do what you can,’ but it didn’t look like my day at the office.”
Wozniacki will play Olga Govortsova in the final. Govortsova defeated Dominika Cibulkova 6-4, 7-5 in the other semi.
Russia’s Vesnina used a precision game to build her second-set lead and was serving for the match when Wozniacki broke her and began her climb back.
“That’s when I felt like I had a chance,” Wozniacki said. “I was just missing everything by one, two inches and once I said: ‘OK, I’m back in the rally,’ she killed the shot, so I didn’t feel like I could do anything. It has to turn around at some point. I need to get the chance at some point, but it just didn’t look like it until 5-3.”
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