Ana Ivanovic of Serbia beat seventh-seeded Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 7-5 and China’s Peng Shuai defeated sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Bartoli of France took an early lead in the first set, but the 17th-ranked Peng fought back to secure the win. Peng briefly lost control of her game at the beginning of the second, but bounced back to win six straight games to wrap up the match.
Ivanovic breezed through the first set, limiting her Italian opponent to just one game in 33 minutes. Schiavone put up a tougher fight in the second, but was no match for the 24-year-old Serb, who took the set to win the match in 1 hour, 40 minutes.
Earlier on Tuesday, fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland advanced after defeating Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-1, 6-7 (6), 7-5.
The 22-year-old Radwanska cruised through the first set in 27 minutes, but she needed another two hours to win her opening match in Dubai. After losing the second set on a tiebreaker, Radwanska struggled to regain concentration in the third and had to come back from 5-3 down, eventually winning 7-5.
Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka is the top-seeded player in Dubai. The top-ranked Belarusian was to meet Julia Goerges of Germany in her opening match yesterday.
The field also includes defending champion Caroline Wozniacki and US Open winner Samantha Stosur, but Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, French Open winner Li Na and Vera Zvonareva all withdrew because of illness and injury on Monday.
Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia retired with a hamstring injury while trailing Iveta Benesova 3-1, and Maria Kirilenko withdrew from a doubles match with Sabine Lisicki against Anabel Medina Garrigues and Alicja Rosolska.
Peng is to play Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova in the second round. Hantuchova advanced after defeating Polona Hercog of Slovenia 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4).
Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic also advanced on Tuesday after ousting Croatia’s Petra Martic 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. Safarova will meet Stosur in the second round.
MONTERREY OPEN
AP, MONTERREY, MEXICO
Fourth-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania and No. 7-seeded Mathilde Johansson of France were knocked out of the first round of the Monterrery Open on Tuesday.
Dulgheru was beaten by Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain 6-3, 6-3, while Mathilde Jonansson lost to Mandy Minella of Luxembourg 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (5).
Other seeded players fared better in the outdoor, hard-court event.
No. 6-seeded Greta Arn of Hungary beat Zhang Shuai of China 6-1, 6-4, while eighth-seeded Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain defeated Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 6-3, 6-3.
Other first-round winners included Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, Maria Abramovic of Croatia, Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, Valeria Savinykh of Russia and Hungary’s Timea Babos.
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