Taiwanese No. 1 Hsieh Su-wei survived a scare to advance to the second round of the singles at the Korea Open in Seoul yesterday, before teaming up with younger sister Hsieh Shu-ying to advance to the quarter-finals of the doubles.
Hsieh, who claimed her third career singles title at the Japan Women’s Open in Hiroshima on Sunday, had to fight back from a set down to overcome Swiss qualifier Jil Teichmann 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/0) in 2 hours, 12 minutes.
The Taiwanese sixth seed, who rose to No. 29 in the world rankings following her victory in Japan, saved 13 of 16 break points and converted three of nine, winning 110 of the 209 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with another Swiss, Stefanie Voegele, who ousted South Korean wild-card Choi Jee-hi 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 on Monday.
Photo: AFP
Hsieh then returned to the hard courts alongside her sister in the first round of the doubles as they took 74 minutes to defeat Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek 6-4, 6-4.
The Taiwanese sisters saved four of eight break points and converted six of eight, winning 61 of the 117 points contested.
In the other first-round singles matches, Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland progressed with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US; Romanian seventh seed Irina-Camelia Begu defeated German qualifier Mona Barthel 7-5, 6-4; Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova shocked world No. 68 Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-1, 6-2; and Australian Ajla Tomljanovic rallied from a set down to upset Belgian fifth seed Alison van Uytvanck 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.
Australian qualifier Priscilla Hon and Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic also bounced back from losing their opening sets before recovering to oust South Koreans Jang Su-jeong and Han Na-lae respectively.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
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Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB