Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei claimed her 18th career WT Tour doubles title and her first since 2014 at the Hungarian Ladies Open in Budapest yesterday.
Fourth seeds Hsieh and Oksana Kalashnikova defeated Arina Rodionova of Australia and Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan 6-3, 4-6, 10-4 in 1 hour, 21 minutes.
The Taiwanese-Georgian duo saved six of 10 break points and converted five of 10, winning 66 of the 124 points contested to claim their first title as a doubles pairing.
Photo: AFP
It was Hsieh’s first title since winning the French Open with Peng Shuai of China in 2014, the second Grand Slam doubles title of her career after the duo won Wimbledon the previous year.
It was Kalashnikova’s fourth career title and her first since claiming the crown in ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, with Yaroslava Shvedova last year.
DUBAI CHAMPIONSHIPS
Photo: AFP
AP, DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
Elina Svitolina of Ukraine is set to debut in the top 10 today after winning her second title of the season at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Saturday.
Svitolina dominated Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-2 in a final that started two hours late because of multiple rain showers.
“It’s big relief, because I knew that if I win this match, I’m gonna be top 10,” Svitolina said. “There was extra pressure [and] when I was warming up, added even more pressure because they announced it. It didn’t help.”
Svitolina earned her final berth by knocking out top seed Angelique Kerber in a three-set semi-final.
The Dubai tournament is the most prestigious title of the six that Svitolina has won. The previous five were lower-level WTA Tour events, including the Taiwan Open earlier this month. She is on a 12-match winning streak.
Svitolina has won both times she has played against Wozniacki, although the first at the Miami Open last year was a much harder victory.
Both players were content to remain fastened to the baseline in Dubai, but Svitolina’s firepower set them apart.
“I kind of felt like I ran out of steam a little bit and she took advantage of that,” Wozniacki said.
“She stepped it up a little bit and that was kind of that. Obviously, it’s frustrating when you see what you want to do out there and you just can’t do it,” she said.
It was Wozniacki’s second consecutive final in as many weeks, but she also left without the winner’s trophy from Doha last week. She was now 25-19 in career finals.
“I can take a lot of positives with me from this week,” Wozniacki said. “I’m hoping for a good season.”
In the doubles final, Russian second seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina survived multiple rain delays to edge sixth seeds Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic and Peng Shuai of China 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 in 2 hours, 10 minutes.
“Winning the trophy like here in Dubai, it’s very prestigious,” Vesnina told the WTA Tour Web site. “It’s the first time we played final here. We were just passing by the corridor and we saw the trophy. We were just really pleased with the result, because winning such a big title, it’s always giving us some confidence, some positive emotions.”
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
RSS