Taiwan’s top tennis player Lu Yen-hsun was defeated 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (9/7) by third-seeded John Isner of the US in a tight final which had no service breaks at the Heineken Open in Auckland yesterday.
It was Lu’s first appearance in an ATP Tour event final.
A day earlier, Lu ousted world No. 3 and three-time defending champion David Ferrer in the semi-finals.
Photo: AFP
After causing one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, Lu was able to hold a tight match with world No. 14 Isner in the first set until the tiebreak.
However, Lu did not manage to find his rythm in time to beat Isner, who served 23 aces in the match, and lost the second set after another tiebreaker.
“I’ve been through injuries, I dropped my ranking and came back, and in the last few years I was really stable in the top 100,” Lu told the Associated Press. “But this was a really good step, to reach a final on the ATP Tour. I hope I can take this performance and go into next week [at the Australian Open] and the rest of the year.”
Photo: EPA
Isner, playing with a right-ankle injury he picked up at the Hopman Cup the previous week, took a crucial mini-break to open the first set tiebreaker. In the second tiebreaker, he rallied from 3-0 down and closed with an ace on his third championship point.
“This match was very tight as every match I’ve played this week was very tight,” Isner said. “I needed every bit of it to come out on top.”
Elsewhere, top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro outclassed defending champion Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-1 yesterday in a 53-minute final of the Sydney International.
Photo: EPA
Del Potro finished the match with his eighth ace and made only four unforced errors in securing his 18th career title and first in Sydney.
He lost only six points on his serve and Tomic appeared dispirited after being broken to fall behind 4-1 in the second set.
“My forehand worked perfect, I made a lot of winners, many aces, played good slices,” Del Potro said. “Every long rally we played, I won all of them, which is good for my confidence. I think Bernard was a little frustrated to see me very focused on the match and hitting the ball so well.”
Tomic was more succinct.
“I got killed,” the 21-year-old Australian said. “There was nothing I could do.”
It is about to get more difficult for Tomic. His next match is against top-seeded Rafael Nadal in the first round of the Australian Open. Del Potro is also scheduled to play his first-round match on Tuesday — against a qualifier.
In the final of the Kooyong Classic exhibition event in Melbourne, Japan’s Kei Nishikori joined his coach Michael Chang as a tournament champion with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Tomas Berdych.
Nishikori, seeded No. 16 at the Australian Open, was watched by Chang, a former French Open champion and a three-time winner at the Melbourne venue in 1995 to 1997.
In the WTA event in Hobart, Spanish qualifier Garbine Muguruza defeated Klara Zakapalova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-0 to claim her first singles title.
The 20-year-old Muguzura, who did not drop a set from the qualifiers to the final, joins 2012 champion Mona Barthel as the only qualifiers to win the Hobart event.
Muguruza, ranked 58th, beat second-seeded and Wimbledon semi-finalist Kirsten Flipkens in the quarter-finals, while Zakapalova defeated top-seeded and former US Open champion Sam Stosur in the semis.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care