Women’s top seed Victoria Azarenka made hard work of her first-round win on Monday, while Roger Federer moved closer to a first singles medal after breezing into the last 16 on a packed Wimbledon Centre Court.
Despite storming to an early lead, Belarusian Azarenka, who needs to win gold to guarantee retaining the world No. 1 ranking, dropped the second set to Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu before regaining her pose to take the match 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.
“Today I couldn’t get into the match in the second set. There were too many mistakes, but I’m glad I could turn things around and finish as strong as I started,” said the 23-year-old, who kissed the net at the end of the match after her final shot bounced off it before dropping on the winning side.
Photo: EPA
“I get more nervous when I play for my country than when I play for myself. Hopefully, the next round will be much easier,” she said after the match, which had been delayed from Sunday because of rain.
World No. 1 Federer, who dropped a set in a first-round wobble against Colombia’s Alejandro Falla on Saturday, made easier work of his second-round tie, defeating France’s Julien Benneteau 6-2, 6-2 in less than an hour.
Federer was taken to five sets by Benneteau in the third round at Wimbledon last month and came back from two down before going on to win the match and then the title for the seventh time.
The Swiss 17-times Grand Slam champion was back in action in the men’s doubles, where he and partner Stanislas Wawrinka were put through their paces by Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Go Soeda before securing a 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 win to start the defense of their Beijing gold medal.
Out of the running in the doubles are Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki, who lost their opening match against Sweden’s Johan Brunstrom and Robert Lindstedt 7-6, 6-3.
The US’ Venus Williams, aiming to become the first tennis player to win four Olympic golds, made easy work of her first-round singles match against No. 9 seed and French Open finalist Sara Errani.
Venus dispatched the Italian 6-3, 6-1 in just over an hour, before chanting “U-S-A, U-S-A” with a delighted Court Two crowd.
At the same time on Court One, her sister and doubles partner Serena advanced to the third round with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Poland’s Urszula Radwanska, while later eighth seed Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki dropped a set against Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer in her 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 second-round win.
In a packed schedule of play, because of a rainy Sunday which meant just 12 of 48 matches were completed, the Williams sisters also took to court for a second time on Monday to defend their women’s doubles title with an easy 6-3, 6-2 win over Romania’s Sorana Cirstea and Simona Halep.
To the delight of a noisy home crowd, Britain’s Laura Robson and Heather Watson, who both got into the singles after injury withdrawals, booked their places in the second round.
Robson, ranked 96 in the world, beat No. 23 Czech Lucie Safarova 7-6, 6-4, while Watson saw off Spaniard Silvia Soler Espinosa 6-2, 6-2.
“I loved the crowd, they were amazing. It’s completely different to Wimbledon, they were a lot louder. I love it, I love loud,” said Watson, laughing.
With players getting used to a noisier crowd than at the usually sedate Wimbledon, the US’ Andy Roddick was in good spirits during his 7-5, 6-4 win over of Slovakia’s Martin Klizan.
“Don’t worry, it will get better,” he joked when a baby started crying in the second set.
However, it may not get better for the world No. 22, who now faces second-seed Djokovic in the second round.
“The biggest thing about the top guys is that they don’t make mistakes when they should make mistakes, they repeat the same pattern over and over and over,” the 29-year-old told reporters.
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