Angelique Kerber remembers fondly her time at Stanford last year, when she reached the final of the Bank of the West Classic.
She drew on that experience on Tuesday night in beating Russia’s Daria Gavrilova 6-1, 6-3 in the first round.
“I played a lot of good matches,” Kerber said. “I actually like it a little bit faster.”
Photo: AFP
Without world No. 1 Serena Williams, who withdrew because of an elbow injury, Kerber might get to create even more good memories.
Playing in her first match since Wimbledon, where she reached the round of 32, sixth-seeded and 14th-ranked Kerber had an easier time of it in her third meeting of the year with 41st-ranked Gavrilova.
“It wasn’t easy,” Kerber said. “I just played better. She moves very well and I always have a tough time against her. I am actually very happy about my performance.”
Kerber has already won three WTA titles this year and is 3-0 against top 10 players. Her runner-up finish last year was her best effort of the season.
Eighth seed Elina Svitolina, who reached the quarter-finals of the French Open, needed three sets to beat qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko.
Svitolina, No. 20 in the world, had lost four of her last five matches before knocking off her fellow Ukrainian in a match that lasted two hours, 31 minutes.
Svitolina plays favorite daughter Nicole Gibbs, a Stanford grad, in the second round.
Qualifier Kimiko Date-Krumm, ranked No. 173 and the oldest player on the tour at 44, rallied to beat 24th-ranked Sabine Lisicki 1-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, and is to meet 11th-ranked Karolina Pliskova in the second round.
In other matches, the US’ Varvara Lepchenko topped Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4); Croatian Ana Konjuh downed China’s Saisai Zheng 6-3, 6-4; and Ajla Tomljanovic defeated Russian Vitalia Diatchenko 3-6, 6-0, 6-0, and is to meet seventh-seeded Madison Keys of the US next.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB