Big-hitting Aryna Sabalenka was too strong for Ashleigh Barty yesterday in the opening match of the WTA Elite Trophy in China, taking the match 6-4, 6-4.
The tournament’s youngest player showed the aggressive form that has seen her shoot up the world rankings from 39th to 12th place in just three months.
Belarus’ Sabalenka, 20, made the most of breaking Australia’s Barty, 22, in the very first game of the match, seeing out a nip-and-tuck opening set 6-4. Sabalenka looked the more confident of the two early on, and held her nerve to pull out her first two aces to clinch the set.
Photo: AFP
Barty took the initiative in the second set, breaking in the fourth game, only for Sabalenka to break back in Barty’s two following service games. The pair produced thrilling base-line battles for the spectators at the Hengqin Tennis Center, but Sabalenka turned the screw to see out the match in one hour, 26 minutes.
Sabalenka and Barty’s clash was their first round robin match, with both yet to play world No. 18 Caroline Garcia of France.
“I’m disappointed not to come away with the win, but I’ll have another opportunity in the next few days to try and finish my season on a real high,” Barty said after the match.
Asked about the strength of the field, last year’s semi-finalist said: “I thought last year was good, but this year’s another level.”
“We have the top 20 players in the world this year who are fighting right until the end of the season, which is really positive,” she added.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but