Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and her doubles partner Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic defended their title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday, taking their second trophy of the season.
The top-seeded duo overcame Zheng Saisai of China and Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 3-6, 10-5 in a nearly two-hour match.
Hsieh and Strycova took an early 3-1 lead in the opening set, and although their opponents came from behind to tie 5-5, the duo kept their cool to take the next two games and win 7-5.
Photo: AFP
In the second set, the duo also took a 3-1 lead, but then gave up five games in a row to lose 3-6.
Zheng and Krejcikova kept up their momentum in the third-set tiebreaker, at one point leading Hsieh and Strycova 3-0, but the Taiwanese-Czech duo rallied to take eight points and eventually won 10-5.
This is the second year that Hsieh and Strycova have triumphed at the Dubai Open, and the third consecutive year that Hsieh has made it to the tournament’s women’s doubles final. In 2018, Hsieh and her then-partner, Peng Shuai of China, finished runners-up.
The Dubai Championships mark the duo’s second win of the season, following the Brisbane International tennis tournament last month.
In the singles, Simona Halep defeated Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) to secure her 20th career title.
The world No. 2 from Romania, who also won the title in Dubai in 2015, clinched her first trophy since Wimbledon last summer.
“I love playing here, I gave everything I had. Now, actually, I’m pretty dead,” said Halep, who had been 1-3 down in the final set and took victory after coming back from a set down for the third successive match in Dubai.
Rybakina, 20, who will rise to 17 from 19 in the new rankings next week, was playing her fourth final from five tournaments this year, having won the Hobart trophy last month on the eve of the Australian Open.
“She’s a talented player,” Halep said of her opponent who has a WTA-leading 19 match wins for the season. “She’s young and has many more years ahead of her.”
Rybakina, who was just inside the top 200 this time last year, took the tight final set into a deciding tiebreaker when she broke Halep as the top seed served for victory.
“I may have been a bit nervous,” Halep said. “I just kept trying to fight for every ball.”
“I’m really proud of this week, I think I gave my best. I enjoy every match I play here,” she added.
Rybakina took the early initiative, gaining a 4-2 lead, but struggled to close out the opening set.
The Kazakh had to save two break points as she served for the set leading 5-3.
The 20-year-old double-faulted on a first set point before finally claiming the set on her third opportunity after 38 minutes, saving a pair of break points.
Halep struck back in the second, breaking for 3-1, but Rybakina answered in the seventh game with a break back before losing serve again to trail 3-5 after salvaging three break points.
Halep squared the match at a set each from Rybakina’s backhand error a game later.
The pressure was already on Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso before their 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League raised further questions about his future. Arsenal remain perfect in this season’s competition and three points clear at the top of the standings after a 3-0 win against Club Brugge, while defending champions Paris Saint-Germain were held 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao. The clash between Madrid and City was the standout game of the round amid reports this week that Alonso had lost control of the locker room. Speculation over his position is likely to intensify after the latest
By the time Cameron Menzies finally left the arena on Monday, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand had trickled down his wrist, part of his forearm and — somehow — up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappeared down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of Professional Darts Corp (PDC). The physical scars from Menzies’ encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby at the Darts World Championship would be gone within a few weeks.
Manchester United on Monday blew the lead three times to miss out on moving up to fifth in the Premier League as AFC Bournemouth would not be beaten in a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. United have lost just once in their past 10 games, but Ruben Amorim would be frustrated as more points at home were frittered away despite arguably the best attacking display of his reign in charge. Amad Diallo and Casemiro gave the hosts a halftime lead either side of Antoine Semenyo’s equalizer. Two Bournemouth goals from Evanilson and Marcus Tavernier in seven minutes at the start of the
‘HIGH STANDARD’: The Thunder are on track for a Finals-Cup double after they scored 22 three-pointers in equaling the best 25-game start to a season in NBA history The Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday bagged a 16th straight victory, thrashing the Phoenix Suns 138-89 to romp into an NBA Cup semi-final clash with the San Antonio Spurs, who stunned the Los Angeles Lakers 132-119. NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 28 points to lead the reigning NBA champions Thunder, who improved to 24-1 to equal the best 25-game start to a season in league history. They dominated from start to finish to book their place in the final four of the in-season tournament in Las Vegas, where they are tomorrow to take on the Spurs. The New York Knicks and
RSS