Top seed Sara Errani of Italy reached the Budapest Grand Prix quarter-finals for a second straight year after overcoming Hungarian qualifier Melinda Czink 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 on Wednesday.
The second-round win set her up against compatriot Alberta Brianti, who defeated Lesia Tsurenko of the Ukraine 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 in a three-hour encounter.
Elena Vesnina of Russia ousted second-seeded Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-3.
“I tried to be creative and served a good percentage in,” Vesnina said.
Fourth seed Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic also lost 6-3, 6-3 to compatriot Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, who will take on Marina Erakovic of New Zealand for a place in the semi-finals.
Sixth-seeded Petra Martic of Croatia beat Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei 6-4, 6-1 and she meets Vesnina next, while the other quarter-final features Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada against Anna Tatishvili of Georgia.
SERBIA OPEN
AP, BELGRADE
Seeded players Andreas Seppi, David Nalbandian and Gilles Muller won in straight sets to advance to the quarter-finals of the Serbia Open on Wednesday.
Second seed Seppi defeated Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-4, 6-4, No. 4 Nalbandian beat qualifier Aljaz Bedene 6-4, 6-3 and No. 8 Muller downed Eduardo Schwank 6-3, 7-6 (7/0).
Joao Souza of Brazil also advanced after wild-card Dusan Lajovic retired because of an ankle injury.
BMW OPEN
AP, MUNICH, GERMANY
German veteran Tommy Haas beat top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-1, 6-4 on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the BMW Open.
Tsonga was making his debut in the clay-court event and had a bye into the second round, but he has never won a title on clay and was outclassed by the 134th-ranked German, who was once world No. 2. Tsonga is world No. 5, but never had a break point against Haas.
Third-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia cruised past Germany’s Matthias Bachinger 6-3, 6-2 to reach the last eight.
Sixth seed Milkhail Youzhny of Russia, the 2010 Munich champion, downed Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-4.
Eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus rallied to beat German qualifier Dustin Brown 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later