Second seed Vera Zvonareva maintained her good run of form to beat Sara Errani of Italy for a place in the third round at the Pan Pacific Open women’s tennis tournament yesterday.
The Russian, who reached a career-high fourth in the world after finishing runner-up at the US Open, struggled to hold her serve, losing three games and needed to repeat deuces seven times before serving out for 6-3, 6-3 win.
Seventh seed Elena Dementieva of Russia, a gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was an easy 6-0, 6-1 winner over Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, while eighth seed Victoria Azarenka breezed past Czech Lucie Safarova 6-1, 6-3.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Azarenka, of Belarus, who had a first-round bye with Zvonareva and Dementieva, was too strong for Safarova, dropping only four games in a 6-1, 6-3 victory.
It marked a strong recovery Azarenka, who just four weeks earlier had keeled over in the searing heat during the US Open at Flushing Meadows before being revived and pushed off court in a wheelchair.
Azarenka, ranked 11th in the world, showed no ill-effects against her 30th-ranked opponent, achieving a service break in the opening game in the 77-minute match.
In the third round, Azarenka will take on the winner of the match between Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and 11th seed Marion Bartoli of France.
■THAILAND OPEN
AFP, BANGKOK
Belgian qualifier Ruben Bemelmans booked a place in the match of his life yesterday, setting up a second-round contest tomorrow against Rafael Nadal at the Thailand Open. Bemelmans, a 22-year-old ranked 195th, beat fellow qualifier Frederik Nielsen of Denmark 6-2, 6-3 to earn a chance for the first ATP victory of his career.
The underdog has lost in three previous top-level matches this season, in Zagreb, Marseille and Halle, Germany. Nadal, the world No. 1 who is finally making his debut on court in the Thai capital after missing the two previous editions through injury, spent a busy day yesterday while his opposition was slotting into place.
The top seed, refreshed after six days at the beach resort of Hua Hin, took a 20-minute flight back to the town 200km away to plant a ceremonial tree as part of a project to seed a million trees in honor of the nation’s revered king.
Recent US Open winner Nadal then returned by air to the Impact area to begin acclimatising to the indoor surface where he will pursue the seventh title of a season in which he has won the last three majors and completed his personal career grand slam sweep.
Three other players booked places in the second round, with German veteran Rainer Schuettler easily dismissing Brazilian Ricardo Mello 6-4, 6-2 and Israeli Dudi Sela defeating Konstantin Kravchuk of Russia 6-3, 6-4. Mello won a previous match with Schuettler five years ago in Munich, on clay.
Kazak Mikhail Kukushkin had to go three sets to get past American Ryler Deheart 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4.
■MALAYSIAN OPEN
AFP, KUALA LUMPUR
Milos Raonic, the 19-year-old Canadian, won his first victory at the ATP level yesterday when he beat the experienced Russian Igor Kunitsyn 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 at the Malayisan Open.
Raonic, ranked 237th by the ATP, will face the seventh seeded Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky at the Putra Stadium in the tournament’s second round.
Raonic had lost in three previous matches at the top level, losing in the summer last year at home in Montreal and in the first round at the Canadian Masters and US Open this year.
But the underdog overwhelmed the 105th-ranked Kunitsyn with 23 aces and no double-faults in an 85-minute serving masterclass.
Raonic also saved both break points he faced while breaking Kunitsyn on two of three occasions.
In other first-round contests, Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov beat Frenchman Laurent Recouderc 6-3, 6-1, while Russia’s Igor Andreev stopped Go Soeda of Japan 6-1, 6-4.
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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
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