Hsieh Su-wei and Flavia Pennetta lost their bid for a first women’s doubles title as a partnership after they were edged 4-6, 6-4, 10-5 by eighth-seeded Russian duo Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a tight quarter-final at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome yesterday.
The second-seeded Taiwanese-Italian duo got off to a flying start at the Foro Italico, breaking their opponents in the first game when Pavlyuchenkova double-faulted when attempting to save a break point.
Hsieh and Pennetta — who it was revealed last week is engaged to be married to fellow Italian tennis player Fabio Fognini — broke the Russians’ serve again in the seventh game to take a 5-2 lead, but their opponents broke straight back and then closed the gap to 5-4.
Hsieh and Pennetta then held their nerve in the 10th game to clinch the first set 6-4 on their first set point.
The second set opened with three breaks of serve, before Hsieh and Pennetta grabbed the advantage when they held serve in the fourth game to claim a 3-1 lead.
However, the Russians broke back in the eighth game to level the set at 4-4, held their serve and then broke again in the 10th to take the set 6-4.
The eighth seeds then took that momentum into the super tiebreak, racing to a 7-2 lead, before the second seeds won three straight games to get it back to 7-5, but it was too little, too late for the Taiwanese-Italian pairing as the Russians won the final three points to close out the victory in 1 hour, 23 minutes.
Hsieh and Pennetta will consider themselves unlucky not to advance after they saved seven of 11 break-point chances and converted four of five.
In the men’s singles on Thursday, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic fought back from a set down to pull out a 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 win over Brazilian qualifier Thomaz Bellucci and reach the quarter-finals.
He next faces fifth seed Kei Nishikori, who beat Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-4, 6-3.
Rafael Nadal became the first player to break John Isner’s serve in nearly a month and he did it twice in a 6-4, 6-4 win.
Meanwhile, Andy Murray and Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament. Murray cited fatigue following consecutive clay-court titles in Munich and Madrid, while Williams said she had a right-elbow injury.
Isner held serve in 84 consecutive games stretching back to his last meeting with Nadal on April 16 in the Monte Carlo Masters, when Nadal broke him in the third set and went on to win.
This time, Nadal broke to take a 3-2 lead in the first set with a forehand winner which landed on the line on his first break point. Then the Spaniard produced a whipping forehand return pass up the line off Isner’s second serve to go up 5-4 in the second, quickly closing it out from there.
Nadal next faces eighth seed Stanislas Wawrinka, who beat Dominic Thiem of Austria 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.
Roger Federer closed out a 6-3, 7-5 win over big-serving South African Kevin Anderson.
He next face sixth seed Tomas Berdych, who overcame a strong challenge and a partisan crowd for a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2) win over Fognini, the last remaining Italian.
Also through was seventh seed David Ferrer, who defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-3.
In the women’s singles, second seed Simona Halep routed 1999 Rome champion Venus Williams 6-2, 6-1; two-time champion Maria Sharapova eliminated Serbian qualifier Bojana Jovanovski 6-3, 6-3; and Carla Suarez Navarro defeated Eugenie Bouchard 6-7 (2/7), 7-5, 7-6 (9/7).
Backup quarterback Luke Weaver on Wednesday night threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Nick Cenacle with 10 seconds left, as the University of Hawaii rallied for a 35-31 comeback victory over the University of California, Berkeley in a thrilling Hawaii Bowl. Weaver entered the game after Micah Alejado took a hard hit on the previous play. With the Rainbow Warriors (9-4) in range for a tying field goal, coach Timmy Chang took a shot at the end zone, and Cenacle got between two defensive backs and made the contested catch. “How amazing is that?” Chang said. “It’s a program that is built
Hosts Morocco on Friday were held to a 1-1 draw by Mali at the Africa Cup of Nations, ending their world record run of wins and leaving them still to make sure of progress to the next stage. Midfielder Brahim Diaz tucked away a penalty in stoppage-time at the end of the first half, but Mali equalized from the spot midway through the second half through Lassine Sinayoko. Both penalties were awarded after video reviews in a tempestuous clash at the end of a busy day of action at the tournament. Morocco were atop the Group A standings with four points, while Zambia,
STILL IN THE HUNT: Rasmus Hojlund took his goal tally for SSC Napoli to nine as the champions cruised to a win at US Cremonese and stayed two points behind the leaders Inter on Sunday stayed at the Serie A summit after beating Atalanta BC 1-0 to maintain their slender lead over local rivals AC Milan. Lautaro Martinez netted the only goal of the game in Bergamo for Inter, who lead Milan, 3-0 winners against Hellas Verona thanks to Christoper Nkunku’s first Serie A goals, by a single point at the top of the division. The Argentina striker has scored in four consecutive league matches to end what has been a tricky year in positive style. “I ended last season in a lot of pain... I kept going during the Club World Cup and international
An astounding 20 wickets fell on a frantic first day of the fourth Ashes Test yesterday, with Australia all out for 152 before storming back to dismiss England for 110 and leave the clash on a knife-edge. England skipper Ben Stokes won a key toss on a green track and his quicks feasted after sending in the hosts under overcast skies in front of 94,199 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was the biggest cricket crowd ever at the cavernous arena, exceeding the 93,013 who watched the 2015 World Cup final, and they witnessed the home side collapse with Josh Tongue
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