Australia’s Jelena Dokic came from behind on Sunday to down Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in a thrilling three-set battle to capture the Malaysian Open title.
Dokic, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, defeated world No. 35 Safarova 2-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 to take her first WTA title in eight years, pocketing US$37,000.
Despite being ranked a lowly 91 in the world, the 27-year-old Australian was in tremendous form, hitting a series of accurate baseline shots to overcome the left-handed Czech player in 2 hours, 40 minutes.
Photo: AFP
There were long and exciting rallies on court, with Safarova fighting back with strong returns and powerful aces, but a calm Dokic managed to unnerve the 24-year-old fifth seed into making unforced errors.
“I played for one point at a time. She [Safarova] made some unforced mistakes and I really exploited on it,” the Australian told reporters. “I am happy to be in the WTA final. It is a fantastic to win the title and the players I beat.”
Dokic was ranked as high as No. 4 in the world back in 2002, but dropped out of the top 100 in 2006 as she struggled to cope with family-related problems.
The Kuala Lumpur tournament has proved a milestone for Dokic, who started her run to the title by beating world No. 5 Francesca Schiavone of Italy in the first round.
It was her first win over a top-five player since 2003, when she defeated then No. 1 Kim Clijsters in a tournament in Zurich.
Dokic’s career highlights include reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and the quarter-finals of the French Open in 2002 and the Australian Open in 2009.
Before competing in Malaysia, she took part in the Qatar Open, where she was bundled out by compatriot Jarmila Groth in the second round.
Meanwhile, Russian Dinara Safina and Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva won the Malaysian Open doubles title when they beat Thailand’s Noppawan Lertcheewakarn and Australia’s Jessica Moore.
However, the former world No. 1 Safina and her partner Voskoboeva needed a super-tiebreaker to win the final 7-5, 2-6, 10-5.
The Russian/Kazakh pair kept their cool and fired a series of accurate baseline shots to win after losing the second set, sealing victory when Voskoboeva served a brilliant ace.
“We were both very motivated. We were very much relaxed and did not have much pressure,” Voskoboeva told reporters.
MONTERREY OPEN
AP, MONTERREY, MEXICO
Second-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia defeated top-seeded Jelena Jankovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday to win her third WTA title and successfully defending the Monterrey Open championship she won a year ago.
Jankovic was seeking her 13th WTA tournament title and got off to a good start, but the Serb had problems in the final set.
Pavlyuchenkova broke Jan-kovic in the seventh game to lead 4-3. She then held serve and broke again in the final game — thanks partly to a double fault by Jankovic — to close out the match.
Pavlyuchenkova has won both matches she’s played against Jankovic and is also 10-0 in the Monterrey tournament. The Russian has won all three of her WTA finals — two in Monterrey and one in Istanbul.
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