Chang Kai-chen rallied from a set down to stun top seed and world No. 10 Roberta Vinci at the Malaysian Open yesterday, while fellow Taiwanese Chan Chin-wei crashed out in the first round of the doubles.
World No. 153 Chang caused one of the upsets of the season at the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club by fighting back from a set down to defeat the Italian 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in the first round of the singles yesterday.
The Taoyuan-born 25-year-old saved three of seven break points and converted seven of nine, winning 92 of the 164 points contested to complete the surprise victory in 1 hour, 32 minutes and set up a second-round clash with Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey.
“It’s always an honor to play a top-10 player and I really enjoyed the whole match,” Chang told the WTA Web site. “I told myself after the first set to be more patient, so I slowed everything down, kept more balls in and just played with her. The result came out well. She’s very difficult to play because she slices and spins it, and I’m very happy I could win this match.”
World No. 128 Buyukakcay advanced by defeating Laura Siegemund of Germany 7-5, 6-1.
Two other seeded players also crashed out in the first round yesterday.
Fourth seed Annika Beck of Germany fell to a 7-5, 6-3 loss to Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan, while eighth seed Zheng Saisai lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to fellow Chinese Yang Zhaoxuan.
The only seed to advance was Elina Svitolina of Ukraine after the No. 2 cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Miyu Kato of Japan in just 47 minutes.
Also advancing were Naomi Broady of Britain, Zhu Lin of China and Risa Ozaki of Japan.
In the doubles, third seeds Chan and Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic fell to 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) defeat to Japanese duo Eri Hozumi and Kato.
Taiwanese seventh seed Hsieh Su-wei is due to play her second-round match against Kristina Kucova of Slovakia at 2pm Taiwan time today, before Chang and Oksana Kalashnikova take on top seeds Liang Chen and Wang Yafan in the doubles quarter-finals.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
RSS