Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei eased into the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Prague Open on Tuesday, while second seed Lucie Safarova returned to winning ways in the singles.
Hsieh and 21-year-old Ysaline Bonaventure completed a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Slovakian duo Jana Cepelova and Viktoria Kuzmova in 62 minutes.
The Taiwanese-Belgian pairing conceded only one break point and converted three of five, winning 56 of the 107 points contested to advance to a tough-looking quarter-final against top-seeded US duo Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears.
In the singles, second seed Safarova, returning from a bacterial infection that forced her to skip the Australian Open, rallied from a set down to overcome Mariana Duque-Marinoa of Colombia 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in 2 hours, 2 minutes.
“I’m so happy because this is my first win this year in singles and obviously it means a lot,” Safarova told the WTA Web site. “I was trying to be positive after coming back from this long sickness, but obviously it’s about the wins. That’s why I was so excited.”
The Czech world No. 16 saved three of four break points and converted three of nine, winning 100 of the 187 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with fellow Czech Lucie Hradecka, who ousted her doubles partner Andrea Hlavackova 6-4, 6-1.
“I fought so hard and it wasn’t easy — I lost the first set, but came back well in the second and played really well in the third,” Safarova said. “I hope to continue to play well here because the crowd was fantastic. It’s so nice to play in front of your home crowd and hopefully I can continue to do so for some more matches.”
Also advancing to the second round on Tuesday were Russian top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, Czech third seed Karolina Pliskova, Australian fourth seed Samantha Stosur, Czech fifth seed Barbora Strycova, Monica Puig of Puerto Rico, Czech lucky loser Barbora Krejcikova, Czech wild-card Marketa Vondrousova, Camila Giorgi of Italy and French qualifier Virginie Razzano.
GRAND PRIX SAR
AP, RABAT
Top seed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland beat Anna Blinkova of Russia 6-4, 6-2 to reach the second round of the Grand Prix SAR on Tuesday.
World No. 15 Bacsinszky, who broke Blinkova’s serve six times, next faces Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine.
Richel Hogenkamp, a Dutch player ranked 139th, overcame eight double faults to upset fourth seed Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-4, breaking the Romanian’s serve five times.
She next faces Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier.
Seventh seed Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine advanced with a 6-4, 6-0 win against Silvia Soler-Espinosa, breaking the Spaniard’s serve six times, while eighth seed Yuliya Putintseva of Kazakhstan won 6-3, 7-6 (7/1) against Alison Riske of the US, who double-faulted seven times.
Laura Robson, Sara Sorribes Tormo, Tatjana Maria, Aleksandra Krunic and Marina Erakovic also advanced to the second round.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
Liverpool on Tuesday suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers as Andre’s stoppage-time strike sealed a dramatic victory for the English Premier League’s bottom club. Arne Slot’s side fell behind to Rodrigo Gomes’ strike in the closing stages at Molineux. Mohamed Salah hauled Liverpool level with his first goal in 11 top-flight games dating back to November last year. However, Andre’s first goal for Wolves inflicted the latest humbling loss in a chastening season for Liverpool. It was the first time the Premier League’s bottom club had beaten the reigning champions since Crystal Palace defeated Chelsea in 2017. Liverpool
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS