Taiwan’s Hsieh Cheng-peng on Sunday lost his bid to claim his first ATP Tour doubles title at the Sofia Open, while Daniil Medvedev gifted himself an early birthday present in the singles final.
Hsieh and his Indonesian partner, Christopher Rungkat, fell to a 6-2, 4-6, 10-2 defeat to Nikola Mektic and Jurgen Melzer in 67 minutes.
The Croatian-Austrian duo saved five of six break points and converted two of eight to claim what was their first ATP Tour title as a pairing.
Photo: AFP
“I am very happy to win the title,” Mektic told the ATP Web site.
“Last May was my last final, so it is very good to be in a final and win again... It is going to be good motivation for the rest of the season,” he said. “We have had some tough battles. We saved [three] match points in [the quarter-final], but we came out strong in the end and I have to thank Jurgen again for playing with me. It was a great week.”
In the singles, big-hitting Russian Medvedev brushed aside Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 6-3 to win the title.
Third seed Medvedev, who turned 23 yesterday, was at his devastating best as he gave the hapless Hungarian a brutal lesson to claim his fourth career title.
Attacking the lines with machine-like precision, Medvedev was in complete control and broke the unseeded Hungarian, who won his maiden title in Geneva, Switzerland, last year, four times.
The world No. 16 converted his first championship point after breaking Fucsovics’s serve to love.
“I’m happy to win the title — this is what I came here for,” Medvedev said. “I was the better player today and I deserved to win. This title gives me a lot of confidence.”
OPEN SUD DE FRANCE
Reuters, PARIS
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Sunday beat fellow Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 6-2 to win the Open Sud de France in Montpellier and claim his first ATP Tour title since 2017.
Herbert, the seventh seed, was looking to snatch his maiden singles title, but Tsonga, whose previous season was hampered by injuries, only dropped four points on his serve.
The 33-year-old, in Montpellier courtesy of a wild card, had not won a trophy since he prevailed in Antwerp, Belgium, in October 2017.
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Anastasia Potapova on Wednesday turned tennis heartbreak into history by becoming the first lucky loser to reach a WTA 1000 semi-final with her thrilling 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova at the Madrid Open, as Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei exited in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. The Russian-born Austrian, who lost in qualifying last week, has capitalized on her unexpected main draw entry and stunned former world No. 1 Pliskova in a roller-coaster clash despite squandering three match points. Potapova’s run has included impressive victories over former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and world No. 2 Elena Rybakina. Asked if she had thought
RSS