Germany’s Benjamin Becker yesterday persevered through early struggles to outlast sixth-seeded Jeremy Chardy of France 5-7, 6-1, 7-5 in Kuala Lumpur at the Malaysian Open, which sees the 34-year-old advance into his first ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season.
Chardy’s strong record in hard-court events had made the French player an early favorite in the tournament.
However, Becker fought hard to claim his 10th tour-level win of the season, prevailing in two hours and six minutes after withstanding 13 aces and breaking his French opponent four times. After losing the first, the German dominated in the second set with his precise forehand returns to level proceedings, before clinching the match in the third.
“I’ve lost in a few close matches before, so it was good to get the win and it helps my game and confidence,” Beck, who is bidding for his first ATP title since 2009, told reporters.
For the second year in a row, Becker has secured a quarter-final berth at the Malaysian Open.
Meanwhile, Joao Sousa of Portugal scored a commanding 6-2, 6-2 victory over Poland’s Michal Przysiezny to advance into the quarter-finals.
Later yesterday, Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic outlasted Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in their round of 16 match, while Australia’s Nick Kyrgios dismantled Japan’s Tatsuma Ito 6-3, 6-2.
SHENZHEN OPEN
Sixth-seeded Jiri Vesely yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the Shenzhen Open by beating China’s Zhang Zhizhen 6-2, 6-3.
The Czech player conceded only 10 points on his serve.
Vesely is next to face top-seeded Tomas Berdych, who defeated Austin Krajicek of the US 7-5, 6-3.
Simone Bolelli of Italy qualified for his seventh quarter-final match of the season after eighth-seeded Victor Estrella Burgos retired with a back injury while trailing 6-4, 4-0.
Tommy Robredo is to face Bolelli in the quarter-finals after eliminating Hiroki Moriya of Japan 7-5, 6-3.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier