Lindsay Davenport won her third title in four events since her comeback to tournament play when she beat France's Aravane Rezai 6-2, 6-2 in the ASB Classic final yesterday.
Davenport improved to 18-1 in singles since her return from the birth in June of her first child.
Her son, Jagger, was courtside yesterday for his mother's victory, held by his nanny, but seemed nonplussed by the occasion and cried when first introduced to the crowd.
PHOTO: AP
He was quickly calmed by Davenport and took an eager interest in proceedings, including the presentation of the US$22,000 winner's check.
The win followed Davenport's tournament victories in Bali -- after a 51-week absence from the tour -- and Quebec City and her semi-finals appearance in Beijing. The Auckland title was her 54th, moving her ahead of Monica Seles and into eighth place on the all-time list of WTA tournament winners.
Davenport won the first set yesterday in 25 minutes, breaking Rezai in the second and eighth games and the second in 34 minutes, breaking in the fourth and eighth.
In winning, Davenport improved her percentage of wins in singles to 79.4 per cent -- 792 wins in 918 matches -- which is the best percentage in WTA history.
"I came here with the goal of winning this tournament and, being unseeded, you never know how the draw turns out," she said. "But I was happy with the way I was able to play well at times, not perfectly at others, but really come through the tournament and just lose the one set."
Inter on Sunday were given a letoff when they snatched a late 1-1 derby draw with AC Milan, while league leaders SSC Napoli were held by a late goal at AS Roma. Reigning champions Inter remain three points behind Napoli, who looked to be heading five clear as they led in Rome until Angelino volleyed in a stunning leveler in the first minute of stoppage-time. Angelino’s strike gave even more significance to Stefan de Vrij’s last-gasp equalizer at the San Siro. The defender forced home Nicola Zalewski’s knockdown just as it looked like Tijjani Reijnders’ opener would be enough for Milan. “I can
Santiago Castro on Tuesday had an immediate impact off the bench as he scored the goal to send Bologna into the Coppa Italia semi-finals for the first time in 26 years. Bologna won 1-0 against last year’s runners-up, Atalanta BC, and are to play either holders Juventus or Empoli in the final four. Juventus are to host Empoli in their quarter-final on Feb. 26. The last time Bologna reached the semi-finals was in 1999, when they lost 4-2 to ACF Fiorentina. There were chances for both sides in a high-tempo match in Bergamo, but it was Bologna who broke the deadlock 10 minutes from
After nearly six years away from the NBA, New Taipei Kings player Jeremy Lin (林書豪) is set to participate in the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend’s Rising Stars mini-tournament as the coach of Team G League. The NBA announced Monday (U.S. time) that the Taiwanese-American player will join a trio of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famers – Tim Hardaway Sr., Chris Mullin, and Mitch Richmond – as honorary coaches for four teams featuring 28 rising talents. "See you soon in the Bay," Lin wrote in an Instagram story sharing the news. As the All-Star Weekend will take place at
The former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani on Thursday was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly US$17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account. Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between the Japanese athlete and his English-speaking teammates and fans, was sentenced in federal court in Santa Ana to four years and nine months after pleading guilty last year. He was ordered to pay US$18 million in restitution, with nearly US$17 million going to Ohtani and the remainder to the US Internal Revenue Service. He was