Italy’s Flavia Pennetta booked herself a second-round clash with world No. 1 Serena Williams at the WTA and ATP Sony Open hard-court tournament in Miami after a 6-4, 6-1 first-round victory over Sweden’s Johanna Larsson on Tuesday, while defending champion and fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland will open against Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei, who downed Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko 6-4, 7-6 (17/15).
Pennetta, ranked 103rd, will meet Williams on Thursday in a second-round match at the US$8.5 million event, which awarded byes to all 32 seeded players in both the men’s and women’s draws.
The third-round foe for Williams if she beats Pennetta will be either 31st seed Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium or Japan’s Ayumi Morita, who outlasted Britain’s Heather Watson 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Photo: AFP
Williams will try to become the first six-time winner in Miami in her first event since reclaiming the top ranking, while men’s world No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia tries to claim his fourth Miami crown.
Williams, a 15-time Grand Slam singles champion, won in Miami in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008. The 31-year-old American, who also reached the final in 1999 and 2009, is the reigning US Open, Wimbledon and Olympic champion.
Williams’ 19th-seeded sister Venus, a former world No. 1 with seven Grand Slam singles crowns, will open against Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm, who ousted South Africa’s Chanelle Scheepers 6-2, 6-0.
Chinese fifth seed Li Na learned she will open against Dutch rival Kiki Bertens, who won the first seven games, before Georgia’s Anna Tatishvili retired from their match.
China’s Peng Shuai downed Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-2 and faces Czech seventh seed Petra Kvitova in the second round.
French 10th seed Marion Bartoli opens against Germany’s Andrea Petkovic, who downed Serbian Bojana Jovanovski 6-3, 6-1.
France’s Kristina Mladenovic defeated Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak 7-5, 6-2 to book a second-round date with Slovakian 13th seed Dominika Cibulkova.
Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu edged New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 and next faces 25th seed Varvara Lepchenko of the US.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
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Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with