Big-serving Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France crashed out of the Shanghai Masters yesterday, beaten 7-6 (7/1), 4-6, 4-6 by Japan’s Kei Nishikori, but top seed Rafael Nadal eased through to the third round.
Tsonga, the fourth seed, appeared to be on his way to a straightforward victory when he stepped up the intensity of his game to seal the first set tie-break with the loss of just one point.
However, world No. 47 Nishikori, who needed courtside treatment on his back, broke twice in the second set, leveling the match when the Frenchman netted with a forehand.
Photo: AFP
Nishikori, who has a poor record against top 10 players, produced two more breaks in the deciding set, taking advantage of an error-strewn performance by Tsonga and sealing the win on his third match point.
The defeat puts a serious dent in the Frenchman’s bid to reach next month’s ATP World Tour Finals. He came into the Shanghai Masters in eighth place in the race to reach the showpiece, featuring the top eight players of the year.
In his first match of the tournament after a first-round bye given to the top eight seeds, world No. 2 Nadal, bidding for his 20th Masters title, beat fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-2.
Photo: Reuters
Second seed Andy Murray had a walkover into the third round after Dmitry Tursunov of Russia withdrew from their second-round match with a wrist injury.
Spain’s third seed David Ferrer came out on top 7-5, 7-6 (9/7) in his second-round clash with Canada’s Milos Raonic and Czech player Tomas Berdych beat compatriot Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-3.
Earlier, Juan Carlos Ferrero came from a set down in an all-Spanish tie to oust 16th seed Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, breaking six times during a match lasting a little over two hours.
Japan Open
AP, OSAKA, Japan
Third-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany advanced to the quarter-finals of the Japan Open yesterday with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Olga Govortsova of Belarus.
In other second-round action at the Utsubo Tennis Center, fourth-seeded Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic beat Erika Sema of Japan 6-0, 6-3, Zheng Jie of China upset fifth-seeded Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia 7-5, 6-3, while defending champion Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand defeated Mathilde Johansson of France 6-2, 6-4.
In a first-round match, Vania King of the US edged out compatriot Jill Craybas 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.
US Open champion Sam Stosur of Australia will meet Misaki Doi of Japan in a second-round match today.
Generali Ladies
AP, LINZ, Austria
Top-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic eased past Rebecca Marino of Canada 6-2, 6-2 on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Generali Ladies.
The Wimbledon champion, ranked a career-high fourth, had four aces and broke Marino twice in each set.
Third-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia led 4-1 in the first set when Kateryna Bondarenko pulled out with a neck injury. The Ukrainian player broke Jankovic once, but did not score a point in her three service games.
In the second round, Jankovic will play Britain’s Anne Keothavong, who defeated Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-4, 6-1.
Earlier, Julia Goerges saved two match points in a third-set tiebreaker before beating Anastasija Sevastova 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7).
The sixth-seeded German player held serve on the first match point before her Latvian opponent double-faulted on the second chance. Goerges then converted her first match point to set up a second-round match against Evgeniya Rodina of Russia.
The fourth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. Pavlyuchenkova went 5-0 up in the decider and missed three match points before eventually closing out the win against Medina Garrigues.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with