TENNIS
Ferrer advances in UNICEF
Top-seeded David Ferrer reached quarter-finals of the UNICEF Open on Wednesday after beating Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-3, 6-1 at the grass-court tournament. The Spaniard beat Mayer in an hour to set up a quarter-final against Igor Sijsling, the only Dutch player left in the Wimbledon warm-up event. On the women’s side, Francesca Schiavone of Italy saved four match points to beat Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (8/6). Schiavone, who beat fifth-seeded Maria Kirilenko in the first round, will play against Kim Clijsters of Belgium in the quarter-finals. Kirsten Flipkens, the Belgian who ousted top-seeded Samantha Stosur in the first round, beat Daria Gavrilova of Russia 7-5, 7-6 (7/4). In other men’s matches, Tatsuma Ito of Japan took less than an hour to beat third-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-2, 6-2, and Frenchman Benoit Paire beat eighth-seeded Lukasz Kubot of Poland 6-3, 0-6, 6-4.
TENNIS
Murray suffers fresh blow
World No. 4 Andy Murray suffered a fresh blow to his Wimbledon preparations on Wednesday as the Scot was beaten by Janko Tipsarevic at an exhibition tournament. Just hours after being named as the fourth seed in the men’s draw at Wimbledon, Murray slumped to his second successive defeat on grass, losing 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 10-7 (super tie-break) against Serbia’s Tipsarevic in The Boodles event at Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire. The 25-year-old British No. 1, who has reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the last three years, crashed out of the All England Club warm-up event at Queen’s last week after losing to Nicolas Mahut in his first match. Murray, still looking to win his first Grand Slam title, is Britain’s only serious contender for the Wimbledon men’s title, which has not been won by a home player since Fred Perry lifted the trophy in 1936.
CRICKET
England to play three Tests
England will play three Tests, three one-dayers and three Twenty20 internationals on their cricket tour to New Zealand starting next February. The Feb. 4 to March 26 tour will include the first Test played at Auckland’s Eden Park since 2006. However, New Zealand Cricket said it had been unable to schedule a match in earthquake-hit Christchurch because of the lack of a suitable venue. The tour will begin with two T20 warmup matches against a New Zealand XI at Whangarei before T20 internationals at Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington on Feb. 9, Feb. 12 and Feb. 15. The one-day internationals will be played at Hamilton, Napier and Auckland and the Test matches at Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland. With Christchurch unable to host a game, Dunedin took over as the South Island’s Test venue. It will be the first time England has played a Test in Dunedin since 1966.
OLYMPICS
Nadal to carry Spanish flag
Rafael Nadal will carry the Spanish flag at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London on July 27, the country’s national Olympic committee announced on Wednesday. Nadal, the world No. 2 and recently crowned seven-time French Open champion, is the fourth top tennis player to be afforded the honor. World number one Novak Djokovic will carry the Serbian flag, Roger Federer will be responsible for the Swiss while Maria Sharapova will lead out the Russian delegation.
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