Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Chan Hao-ching on Wednesday crashed out of the second round at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, while world No. 5 Karolina Pliskova lost her cool over a line call and bashed a hole in the umpire’s chair.
World No. 50 Hsieh fell to a 6-0, 6-4 defeat to Johanna Konta in the second round of the women’s singles as the British world No. 22 improved her career record over the Kaohsiung-born 32-year-old to 3-2.
Konta saved both break points she faced and converted six of 11 to advance to a third-round match against Latvian fifth seed Jelena Ostapenko.
Konta’s post-match interview was then interrupted by former men’s world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who also advanced to the third round by defeating Georgian qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4, 6-2.
Konta was discussing her culinary abilities when she was interrupted by a passing Djokovic.
“Can I experience your cooking one day?” Djokovic asked.
“To be fair it’s my parents and my boyfriend who say it’s good, so they are a bit biased, but I’ll bring stuff in,” Konta replied.
“Please, at Wimbledon,” the Serbian said.
“I need to know what you’re allergic to or don’t like,” Konta replied.
“Anything that is gluten free, dairy free or sugar free,” Djokovic said.
“Oh, fuck off,” Konta replied, before adding: “OK, I’ll make it work.”
Pliskova lost her cool after suffering a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 defeat by Maria Sakkari in the second round of the women’s singles.
Pliskova had argued heatedly with umpire Marta Mrozinska after her smash was called out when serving at 30-30 and 5-5 in the final set, and her Greek opponent won the game before serving out the match.
The Czech exchanged a brief word with Sakkari at the net before approaching Mrozinska with an outstretched hand, then withdrew it and repeatedly smashed the chair with her racket.
Her twin sister, Kristyna, criticized Mrozinska on social media.
“The worst i have ever seen @wta and i hope this lady Marta Mrozinska will never ever judge any match of me or Karolina again #blacklistforever,” the 26-year-old wrote on Twitter.
Earlier, top seed Simona Halep produced a ruthless display to see off Japan’s Naomi Osaka 6-1, 6-0.
The Romanian was forced to save four break points in her opening service game, but went on to claim 12 consecutive games to avenge her Indian Wells loss to Osaka in March.
“I just tried to build my points, to build a little bit of space and open the court, and tried to make winners,” Halep said. “It’s tough to make winners on this court for me, but it’s good when I can build the point. I just want to play like today.”
Halep next meets Madison Keys of the US, who clinched a 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/0) victory over Croatian qualifier Donna Vekic.
In the second round of the women’s doubles, Chan and Yang Zhaoxuan of China fell to a 6-2, 6-4 defeat to Czech second seeds Andrea Sestini Hlavackova and Barbora Strycova in 67 minutes.
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time at the end of normal time as ugly scenes broke out in the stands. However, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved the weak attempted “Panenka” chip by the Real Madrid winger, who was clearly distracted by the long delay that followed the penalty award.
James Harden on Friday scored 31 points and came up big in overtime to help the Los Angeles Clippers erase a double-digit deficit on the way to a 121-117 NBA victory over the Toronto Raptors. Harden scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Clippers pushed their wining steak to five games despite the absence of star Kawhi Leonard with a sprained right ankle. The Clippers trailed by 11 entering the fourth quarter, but Harden drilled a pair of free-throws with 1:24 left in regulation to tie it and after misses from both teams, they went to
Tobias Harris on Monday scored 25 points as the Detroit Pistons held off the Boston Celtics to score a 104-103 victory in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference showdown. Harris was one of four Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Jalen Duren adding 18 points and point guard Cade Cunningham scoring 16 points with 14 assists. The win sees Detroit extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to 31-10, 5.5 games ahead of second-placed Boston, who fell to 26-16 with the defeat. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics scoring with 32 points and almost snatched victory in the
Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah on Saturday secured his sixth Dakar Rally car title in Saudi Arabia with Luciano Benavides scraping home by two seconds to claim the motorbike title. “We’ve worked very hard since last year. I might not be showing much emotion yet, but it’s there, deep down. We are so happy to win,” al-Attiyah said at the finish. Al-Attiyah, at the wheel of a Dacia, only had to avoid a final day slip-up to top the podium after bringing his career tally of stage wins to 50 on Friday. The 55-year-old, who took clay pigeon shooting bronze at the
RSS