World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and her chief rankings rival Petra Kvitova had demanding three-set introductions to the Sydney International in their first official matches of the season yesterday.
Wozniacki and Kvitova, tuning up for next week’s Australian Open, were on court for more than two hours in warm conditions after beginning their Australian campaigns indoors at last week’s Hopman Cup in Perth.
Wozniacki was beaten by world No. 2 Kvitova in three sets in the mixed teams Hopman Cup, after beating American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova in her other singles matches.
Photo: AFP
After her 2 hour, 22 minute match against 18th-ranked Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, the Danish world No. 1 said her 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 victory had been a tough contest.
“I thought I didn’t have that chance, but I never gave up the fight,” said Wozniacki, whose tenure at the top of the women’s singles rankings comes despite not yet winning a Grand Slam in 19 attempts.
“I’m happy to be through to the next round here. Definitely that I could fight back from that score is satisfying, but I definitely need to step up my game a little bit in the next round,” she said.
Wozniacki set up a quarter-final clash against Polish seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who overcame Germany’s Andrea Petkovic in straight sets. Wozniacki leads Radwanska 5-1.
On her much-anticipated contest with Kvitova for the top spot, the Dane said she was looking forward to it. Kvitova trails Wozniacki by 295 rankings points with 470 points up for grabs to the winner of the Sydney International.
“Petra is a great girl. I like her a lot. She’s one of my good friends,” she said.
“I’m sure we’ll play against each other and we’ll both do well in the years to come,” Wozniacki said. “The most important thing is that we’re all healthy and playing well. The competition on the court will be good fun for the fans as well.”
Kvitova also a had tough fight against Romania’s Alexandra Dulgheru, needing 2 hours, 18 minutes to defeat the world No. 66 at the Ken Rosewall Arena.
The powerful left-hander, who became the third Czech woman to win Wimbledon last year, faltered in the heat during the middle set before regaining her form and setting up a quarter-final with Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova.
“It’s my first match in the tournament and the first outdoors,” Kvitova said. “I played four matches in Perth, but this is really different. I have to be playing in these conditions with the wind and sun. I need to play some outdoor matches before Melbourne.”
Defending champion Li Na also had a difficult time before subduing South African Chanelle Scheepers 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 to set up a quarter-final with Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.
China’s world No. 5 Li had problems with Scheepers’ power game before adjusting her tactics to take control.
“After the first set I changed a little bit to play the ball back more to the court and find a chance to win the point,” said Li, who trained for four weeks in Munich in the off season.
French Open semi-finalist Marion Bartoli skated into the quarters with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Australian Jelena Dokic and will play third seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the last eight.
Azarenka accounted for Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 6-2.
In men’s matches, fifth-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia beat former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and eighth-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic defeated Xavier Malisse of Belgium 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-4.
Julien Benneteau of France beat Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4 and former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus defeated Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-4.
HOBART INTERNATIONAL
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Top-seeded Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium beat Australian wild-card entry Casey Dellacqua 6-1, 6-1 yesterday to advance to the quarter-finals at the Hobart International.
Fourth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany also reached the quarters by defeating Italy’s Sara Errani 6-1, 6-2, while Sorana Cirstea of Romania ousted Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.
In first-round play, Sacha Jones beat Kristina Barrois of Germany 6-1, 6-4 to set up a meeting with sixth-seeded Shahar Peer, who beat Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-1. The winner of that match will play 2007 champion Anna Chakvetadze, who defeated Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3, 6-2 in a second-round match yesterday.
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