Defending champion Simona Halep of Romania and Garbine Muguruza of Spain lost in the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Wednesday to leave the tournament without any of its eight seeded players.
Top-seeded Halep was ousted by former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 7-6 (2), 6-2, while second-seeded Muguruza was upset by Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 7-6 (3), 6-3.
Fourth-seeded Petra Kvitova also lost Wednesday night to the US’ Madison Brengle 0-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3.
Photo: EPA
All eight seeded players — Halep, Muguruza, Kvitova, Carla Suarez Navarro, Belinda Bencic, Karolina Pliskova, Roberta Vinci and Svetlana Kuznetsova — lost their opening matches at Dubai.
Third-ranked Halep had a set point at 40-30 when serving at 5-4 for the first set, but netted a backhand to squander the opportunity.
“Yeah, [it] was close,” Halep said. “First set I had set ball. I could not finish, and then I lost a little bit of confidence and it was over.”
The 17th-ranked Ivanovic broke Halep’s serve in the first game of the second set to secure a path to the Dubai quarter-finals for a fourth time in her career.
“I think it was one of the highest quality matches I have had in maybe [the] last year,” Ivanovic said. “I knew I had it in me, so I really believed throughout.”
Muguruza seemed out of step on court throughout the match, hitting 68 unforced errors to only 28 for Svitolina. The Spaniard admitted she was very unhappy with the start to her year, especially having to deal with left foot injuries.
“I think I am not really ready to compete,” Muguruza said. “I think I just need to start from zero again and kind of forget these couple of tournaments, I guess.”
France’s Caroline Garcia upset third-seeded Suarez Navarro of Spain 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Garcia was four points from victory at 5-3, 15-15 in the third set when hail and a thunderstorm swept the area, suspending play for three hours and 39 minutes.
Garcia took advantage of the rain delay to eat and sleep.
“It works well. Very happy to finish it,” Garcia said.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Forget Real Madrid, Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain, the world’s best soccer team — statistically speaking — might be a little-known outfit from the closed central Asian nation of Turkmenistan. Founded last year, Arkadag, named in honor of former Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, have been unstoppable, notching up 36 consecutive domestic victories in a run still ongoing. The side have not lost a single competitive match and swept to a league and cup double in their inaugural season — success unthinkable almost anywhere else. However, in Turkmenistan, it could hardly have gone any other way. The energy-rich country is one of the most closed
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping