Second-seeded South African Kevin Anderson locked up his sixth ATP quarter-final berth of the season with a straight-sets win over Jerzy Janowicz, while Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun beat South Korea’s Chung Hye-on 7-6 (7/1), 1-6, 7-5 on Wednesday at the Winston-Salem Open in North Carolina.
Lu booked a meeting with 13th-seeded American Steve Johnson, who upset third-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4).
With the start of the US Open less than a week away, Anderson kept his campaign going at this hardcourt tune-up with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 victory over Poland’s Janowicz, runner-up last year to Czech Lukas Rosol.
“I was really pleased with today’s performance,” said Anderson, who fired 17 aces and saved all three break points he faced. “It was an improvement from yesterday. I served well today, which was the big goal. I took care of my own service games. When you’re playing a big server like Jerzy that’s one of the most important aspects.”
Anderson next faces 18-year-old Croatian Borna Coric, who needed only 57 minutes to rout Argentinian Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 6-1.
Coric, who toppled Andy Murray in his most recent hard-court quarter-final in Dubai, will be seeking the fifth victory of his career against a top-20 player when he takes on Anderson.
In the other quarter-final in the bottom half of the draw, sixth seed Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil was to meet Malek Jaziri.
Bellucci defeated Czech Jiri Vesely 6-1, 6-7 (7/9), 6-4, while Tunisia’s Jaziri downed Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-5, 6-4.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert kept the French flag flying, defeating Britain’s Aljaz Bedene 6-3, 6-0.
Bedene stunned top-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon in the second round.
Herbert will take on Spain’s Pablo Carreno-Busta, who defeated Italian Simone Bolelli 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th
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