Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and her doubles partner Darija Jurak of Croatia on Saturday defeated Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu 2-6, 6-4, 10-8 to advance to the second round of the Madrid Masters.
The Taiwanese-Croatian duo struggled to find their form in the first set, but came back stronger in the second and third to claim the victory in 1 hour, 28 minutes on the clay court.
“We turned it around!” Chuang wrote on Facebook after the match.
Photo: Courtesy of Chuang Chia-jung’s Facebook page
“In the first set we just could not find our rhythm. We were all over the place,” she said. “In the second set we concentrated on each and every ball. We got our rhythm back, and things improved. In the third set, we settled down more. Our opponents got nervous, so we were able to win.”
Chuang and Jurak next face Switzerland’s Martina Hingis and India’s Sania Mirza, who had a bye in round one.
Chuang won her first WTA Tour doubles title of the year and the 22nd of her career at the Dubai Tennis Championships in February.
In the women’s singles, Sara Errani lost in the first round for the third time this season, losing 7-5, 7-5 to Camila Giorgi.
The 15th-seeded Errani was broken seven times in the all-Italian match. She had already been defeated in the first round at the Australian Open and in Brisbane, but was coming off a semi-final appearance in Charleston.
Also on Saturday, 12th-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine defeated Yanina Wickmayer of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.
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