Wimbledon champion Serena Williams advanced to the Stanford Classic final after she crushed Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-2 on Saturday and will meet fellow American Coco Vandeweghe, who made her first WTA final after she overpowered Yanina Wickmayer 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
Williams, who had a superb service game during Wimbledon, struggled against Cirstea, but easily controlled the tempo of the match against the Romanian, who had trouble keeping the ball in court and committed 32 unforced errors.
Williams broke Cirstea four times in the match and faced only one break point, which she easily fought off.
Photo: Reuters
She was the steadier and more creative player, wowing the crowd with a couple of sweet lob winners over Cirstea’s head.
“I really wasn’t happy today, but I did what I had to do to win and that’s important,” said Williams, who was so dissatisfied with her first serve, making just 38 percent, she went out and practiced on it straight after the match.
“I’m just trying to get something, and I feel like I haven’t served well all week and 38 percent is outrageous,” Williams said, adding that she was looking forward to meeting her young compatriot in the final.
“She’s done well and will go out tomorrow and go for the glory,” Williams said. “I don’t blame her because I’ll do the same thing.”
A lucky loser, the 20-year-old Vandeweghe used her massive serve and big ground strokes to upset the fifth seed Wickmayer, nailing 12 aces of her 32 winners overall.
“I’m really excited to be in the final of a WTA event,” Vandeweghe said. “Hopefully, this is good omen for me for the rest of the summer going into the US Open.”
The 1.85m tall Vandeweghe, the daughter of a former Olympic swimmer, came out firing and immediately broke the Belgian with a backhand winner, then broke her again to take a 5-2 lead, before she closed out the set with three service winners and a forehand down the line.
Wickmayer rallied in the second set, breaking Vandeweghe to 2-0 when the American erred on a forehand, and then successfully sat on the lead with precise ground strokes.
However, Vandeweghe regained her edge in the third set, grabbing a break to 3-1 when Wickmayer double-faulted.
The Belgian held four break points in the next game, but Vandeweghe used her booming serve to get out of trouble, taking care of two of the break points with aces.
“I’ve worked hard on my serve and it’s a big weapon for me,” Vandeweghe said. “There are a lot of matches where my serve is going to come through in the clutch. Plus the way I’m playing off the ground, it puts pressure on my opponent to make her return of serve that much better.”
Wickmayer said the American’s serve was the key to her win.
“Even when I was there, I couldn’t do a lot,” Wickmayer said. “She hits pretty hard. Even her second serve bounces high and it’s hard to do anything with it. When I had chances on her serve, she just aced it away.”
Hall of fame Championships
AFP, NEWPORT, Rhode Island
Top seed and defending champion John Isner was to take on former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt yesterday in the final of the ATP Hall of Fame Championships.
The US’ Isner fired 11 aces in a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 victory over sixth-seeded compatriot Ryan Harrison, while Hewitt reached his first ATP final in more than two years with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 victory over 2009 Newport champion Rajeev Ram.
Hewitt, who received a wild card into the draw, was playing in his first semi-final since June 2010, when he captured the grass court title in Halle.
Hewitt rallied from an early break in both the first and third sets, finally wrapping up the victory in 2 hours and 21 minutes.
“Early on in the match, I had a lot of break points, but he came up with big first serves,” Hewitt said. “I didn’t get a look at a second serve on a break point. It was a matter of if I got that small opportunity, with a second serve and a break point, I had to step up and take it.”
The 31-year-old Aussie was pleased to keep his run going on the grass courts of Newport.
“It’s fantastic, obviously,” said Hewitt, who is again battling back from injury after undergoing radical foot surgery in February.
He said he was focused now on his movement and mechanics, and trying to put the injury behind him mentally.
“You come back from surgery and you think about everything,” Hewitt said.
“My whole mechanics have changed. So that’s taking a bit of time,” he said.
Although Hewitt’s ranking has plummeted to 233, Isner was aware that the Aussie would be a dangerous opponent. Hewitt is 7-0 in grass court finals in his career.
“I’ve never beaten him before, and I’ve never played him on grass,” Isner said. “It’s going to be a big challenge. It’s also going to be an honor sharing the court with him. He’s one of the guys I really, really, respect. It’s good to see him back, but I hope I can beat him tomorrow.”
Isner’s contest with Harrison went with serve until the first-set tiebreaker, which stayed close until Isner won three straight points for a 6-3 lead.
Harrison saved the first set point he faced when Isner sent a service return long, but Harrison double-faulted on the next.
Isner broke early in the second frame and that was all he needed. He never faced a break point himself in the 86-minute match.
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