American Tennys Sandgren was yesterday left speechless after claiming his maiden ATP Tour title with a comprehensive straight-sets victory over Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the final of the ASB Classic.
Sandgren, 27, needed just 79 minutes to beat Norrie 6-4, 6-2 to round out a remarkable week of tennis without dropping a set.
“I’m a little lost for words,” a relieved Sandgren said after a Norrie service return went over the baseline to end the match.
“A lot of work, a lot of training, a lot of sacrifice goes into even making a final and to get a win, I’m speechless,” he added.
In a tournament in which none of the seeded players made it to the final four, Sandgren was playing only his second ATP final — having lost in Houston, Texas, last year — while it was the first for wild-card entrant Norrie.
Sandgren said that his extra experience counted.
“I left that match [in Houston] thinking I played a really good one, but I left something on the table. Mentally, I wasn’t as good as I could have been, so I didn’t want to leave today thinking that I could have been more solid upstairs,” he said.
However, there was no hiding the nerves for both players, with 29 unforced errors from Norrie and 17 from Sandgren, a quarter-finalist in the Australian Open last year.
Norrie was in trouble at the start of match when he dropped his serve in the opening game.
The New Zealand-raised Briton broke back to level at 2-2, then immediately dropped his serve a second time, as Sandgren sealed the set with an ace.
Sandgren had too much power and accuracy for Norrie in the second set, breaking him twice before securing the match.
It was the first time Sandgren had beaten Norrie in their past four encounters.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set