Serbian teen tennis player Bojana Jovanovski had two days to forget after she went to Carlsbad, New Mexico, instead of Carlsbad, California, for the WTA San Diego Open.
The 19-year-old Serb, ranked 53rd in the world, almost missed her first-round match on Monday after she was somehow presented with an erroneous ticket to a tiny desert town almost 1,500km short of her intended destination.
The confused teenager, who played last week’s tournament in Maryland, spent the night in the New Mexico town before taking an early flight to California, where she arrived a mere 30 minutes before the start of her delayed match.
Photo: AFP
Jovanovski said that she flew from Washington to Dallas, then to Albuquerque and the first Carlsbad, not far from the tourist destination of Carlsbad Caverns.
Upon arrival she said she waited for 15 minutes in a nearly empty airport, then got on the phone to tournament transport, which said it was looking for her at the California arrivals hall.
“They said they were at the airport and looking for me,” she said. “I said I was the only person here.”
Photo: AFP
The person on the California end of the conversation suddenly got the picture: “Are you in Carlsbad in California or in New Mexico?”
Things didn’t improve much for Jovanovski once she finally got to the correct Carlsbad. She lost her first-round match against ninth-seeded Italian Roberta Vinci 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Vinci came from a set and break down to square the match, then dominated the final set as she twice broke Jovanovski’s serve and held off three break points on her own.
The Italian was one of only two seeded players to appear on Monday, following the withdrawals of Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters and two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova with muscle strains.
The other seeded winner was No. 16 seed Polona Hercog, who needed more than two hours before defeating qualifier Natalie Grandin, 7-6 (7/1), 2-6, 6-4.
Hercog won despite 10 double faults and a first-serve percentage of 63 percent. The South African Grandin made 71 percent of her first serves, but won less than half of the points when she did get it in.
Vinci’s second-round opponent will be China’s Zheng Jie, who struggled past Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3).
Hercog will face Russia’s Vera Dushevina, who was a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over France’s Aravane Rezai on a day of several hard-fought matches.
Alexa Glatch of the US beat Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 6-2; Elena Baltacha of Britain cruised past American Melanie Oudin 6-0, 6-1; Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Ashley Weinhold of the US; and US veteran Jill Craybas saw off Marie-Eve Pelletier of Canada 6-1, 6-1.
Craybas will face third-ranked and top-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia in the second round. Glatch’s win advances her to a match against No. 2 seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany.
SAFINA TO MISS US OPEN
Reuters, MOSCOW
Former world No. 1 Dinara Safina will not play again this year because of persistent back pain, the Russian said on Monday.
“I’m sorry to report that my back is still acting up and I will not be able to play until at least the end of the year,” she said on her official Web site.
The 25-year-old, who has not played since early May, will miss her third successive Grand Slam tournament — the US Open — after also pulling out of the French Open and Wimbledon.
The Muscovite has sounded pessimistic about her return to the WTA Tour.
“I don’t know how long my time out is going to last because I don’t want to torture myself and my body anymore,” the younger sister of former men’s world No. 1 Marat Safin was quoted as saying by Russian media earlier this year.
Safina has been criticized for reaching the top without winning a Grand Slam title, losing all three of her major finals (the French Open in 2008 and 2009, and the Australian Open in 2009).
After missing much of last year, she made a comeback at the Australian Open in January, but suffered an embarrassing 6-0 6-0 defeat by Kim Clijsters in the opening round and soon after that contemplated quitting the sport.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Forget Real Madrid, Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain, the world’s best soccer team — statistically speaking — might be a little-known outfit from the closed central Asian nation of Turkmenistan. Founded last year, Arkadag, named in honor of former Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, have been unstoppable, notching up 36 consecutive domestic victories in a run still ongoing. The side have not lost a single competitive match and swept to a league and cup double in their inaugural season — success unthinkable almost anywhere else. However, in Turkmenistan, it could hardly have gone any other way. The energy-rich country is one of the most closed
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping