Serena Williams is settling right into the BNP Paribas Open, producing a quick, business-like effort in advancing to the fourth round on Sunday, beating Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-0 in 53 minutes.
Four-time Indian Wells winner Roger Federer needed 10 more minutes than Williams to dispatch Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-2 in the men’s second round.
Federer hit a 196kph ace to set up match point and blasted a forehand winner to end it, leaving him two shy of 50 career wins in the desert.
Photo: EPA
Three-time champion Rafael Nadal could say the same thing, winning 6-4, 6-2 over Igor Sijsling.
Third-seeded Simona Halep needed three sets to beat Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. Lepchenko had 56 unforced errors to Halep’s 37.
Next up for Williams is Sloane Stephens, who beat two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6(4), 1-6, 6-4.
Federer next plays Andreas Seppi in a rematch of the Australian Open, when Seppi stunned Federer in four sets in the third round. Seppi advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Victor Hanescu.
Donald Young led a parade of upsets earlier in the day, with the American beating 31st-seeded Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-2.
The highest men’s seed to go down was No. 7 Stanislas Wawrinka, who lost to Robin Haase 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Eleventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov nearly followed some of the other seeded players out of the tournament, needing three sets to hold off Nick Kyrgios 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(4) over 2 hours.
Kyrgios fell and rolled his ankle in the ninth game of the last set, but managed to break back and had a chance to serve out a victory.
Alexandr Dolgopolov, who made the semi-finals last year, beat No. 29 Santiago Giraldo 6-1, 7-6(4).
Qualifier Michael Berrer advanced when No. 22 Richard Gasquet retired trailing 3-1 in the third set. American Jack Sock outlasted 33rd-seeded Gilles Muller 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(7), saving a match point in the process.
Sixth-seeded Milos Raonic restored order, firing 13 aces and losing just eight points on his serve in defeating Simone Bolelli 6-3, 6-4.
On the women’s side, Heather Watson upset seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-4, and Elina Svitolina knocked out 10th-seeded Lucie Safarova 7-6(5), 7-5. Eighth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova was beaten by No. 27 Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
Twelve days after winning her second Grand Slam title at the French Open, Coco Gauff fell at the first hurdle on grass in Berlin on Thursday as beaten Paris finalist Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the quarter-finals. Recipient of a first round bye, American Gauff lost 6-3, 6-3 to Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu as world number one Sabalenka beat Rebeka Masarova 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) in her second round tie. Winner of 10 main tour titles, including the US Open in 2023 and the WTA Finals last year, Gauff has yet to lift a trophy in a grass-court tournament. “After I won the first
While British star Jack Draper spent the past week trying to find rhythm and comfort in his first grass tournament of the season at the Queen’s Club Championships in London, Jiri Lehecka on Saturday bulldozed everything in his path. After more than two furious hours of battle, their form was reflected in the final scoreline as Lehecka toppled a frustrated Draper, the second seed, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to reach the biggest final of his career, against Carlos Alcaraz. Lehecka is also the first Czech to reach the men’s title match at Queen’s since Ivan Lendl lifted the trophy in 1990. Draper, who
Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka staged a “crazy comeback,” saving four match points before beating Elena Rybakina 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (6) in the quarter-finals of the Berlin Open on Friday. Sabalenka was 6-2 down in the final-set tie-breaker, but won six straight points to reach her eighth semi-final of the season. “Elena is a great player and we’ve had a lot of tough battles,” Sabalenka said. “I have no idea how I was able to win those last points. I think I just got lucky.” “I remember a long time ago when I was just starting, I won a lot of matches being down
The Canterbury Crusaders edged the Waikato Chiefs 16-12 in an intense Super Rugby Pacific final battle in Christchurch yesterday to claim their 15th title in 30 years of the Southern Hemisphere competition. Hooker Codie Taylor scored a try and Rivez Reihana contributed 11 points from the kicking tee as the most dominant team in Super Rugby history extended their perfect home playoff record to 32 successive matches since 1998. The Chiefs, who were looking for a first title since 2013, scored first-half tries through George Dyer and Shaun Stevenson, but were unable to register a point after the break and fell to
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