Kimiko Date-Krumm, the oldest player in the women’s draw at age 41, opened the BNP Paribas Open with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Pauline Parmentier of France on Wednesday as a swirling, gusting wind made life difficult in the first round at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Mona Barthel of Germany had a 6-1, 6-2 win over 37-year-old American Jill Craybas to set up a second-round match with top-ranked Victoria Azarenka, who won the season’s first major at the Australian Open.
Azarenka had a first-round bye, along with defending champion Caroline Wozniacki, who lost her No. 1 ranking at Melbourne Park in January, and the other seeded players.
Photo: Reuters
Wozniacki said when she practiced on Tuesday evening that “it was like a hurricane, it was so windy and cold.”
The weather had not changed much on Wednesday, when the 12-day, US$11 million event got under way with 16 women’s singles matches in gusting winds.
No. 4-ranked Wozniacki did not have to play, so she could sit and watch, and empathize with those who did.
Reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova said in those conditions “it’s not really about the tennis,” as much as just keeping the ball in play.
Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic got the first win of the tournament, a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Laura Pous-Tio of Spain. Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan, Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland, Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain and Sorana Cirstea of Romania also moved into the next round.
Jamie Hampton routed Polona Hercog of Slovakia, 6-1, 6-1, in the opening match on center court, but her fellow American Coco Vandeweghe lost to Australia’s Jarmila Gajdosova 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
American Sloane Stephens beat Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7) in a match that took more than three hours and Vania King rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the second set to eliminate Italy’s Sara Errani 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands, Elena Visnina of Russia, Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova of the Czech Republic and Sania Mirza of India were the other opening-day winners.
The men’s was to start yesterday.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite