Top-seeded Venus Williams cruised into the second round of the Korea Open yesterday, defeating American qualifier Abigail Spears 6-2, 6-3.
Despite warm conditions at Seoul's Olympic Park tennis arena, the Wimbledon champion barely broke a sweat as she used her powerful serve to dominate the match. Spears, whose right arm was heavily strapped, failed to win a single point from Williams's first serve in the opening set.
In the second set, Williams broke again in the opening game and held off a late rally from Spears to complete a comfortable win.
PHOTO: AFP
In other first-round matches, defending champion No. 5 Eleni Daniilidou of Greece won a hard-fought match against Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-4, 6-4; Martina Muller of Germany beat local hope Han Sung-hee 6-1, 6-0; Ahsha Rolle of the US made short work of Anne Keothavong of Britain 6-1, 6-1 and Mathilde Johansson of France defeated Junri Namigata of Japan 7-5, 6-2.
Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn rallied from a set down to eliminate Australia's Casey Dellacqua 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, China's Yuan Meng defeated New Zealand's Marina Erakovic 6-4, 6-4 and Colombian Catalina Castano beat Hseih Su-wei of Taiwan, 6-3, 6-2. Another local favorite was eliminated as Agnes Szavay of Hungary defeated South Korea's Lee Ye-ra 6-2, 6-3.
Williams, who won her sixth Grand Slam at Wimbledon this year, returned to the top 10 in the WTA world rankings the first time since April last year after reaching the US Open semi-finals.
Seventh-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel beat Czech Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-3 on Monday, the opening day of the Fortis Championships.
In the other two matches, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, and Anne Kremer of Luxembourg downed Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands 6-3, 7-6 (3).
The 18-year-old Azarenka next will face third-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia, who received a bye to the second round while Kremer will face second-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.
Defending champion Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine was to play her first match yesterday, as was top-seeded Anna Chakvetadze of Russia.
German wild-card Nicolas Kiefer saw off third-seeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4 6-3 in the first round of the Mumbai Open yesterday.
Up a break at 4-3 on Monday, before rain forced a premature end to play for the day on the outdoor hardcourts, the former world No. 4 wrapped up the match in another 48 minutes.
"It was not easy, started yesterday, rained, and continued today," Kiefer told a news conference. "He is a tough opponent.
"It's very humid here and takes time for one to adjust."
Ranked 130, Kiefer, who missed the second half of last season due to two wrist operations, broke the 24th-ranked Frenchman in the seventh and ninth games of the second set.
Fifth seed Fabrice Santoro beat fellow Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-1 6-2 in another first round match that was interrupted by rain.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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