US player Vania King produced a first-round upset in the Family Circle Cup on Monday by knocking out 14th seed Olga Govortsova 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-3 at Charleston.
The 20-year-old King, ranked No. 121 in the world, mounted a spirited fight-back after trailing Belarusian Govortsova 5-3 in the second set, and then took charge in the third.
China’s Peng Shuai (彭帥) advanced to the second round with a comfortable 6-0, 6-2 win over Russia’s Anastasia Pivovarova.
PHOTO: AFP
Peng, the 10th seed, will face the winner of the tie between Uzbekistan’s Akgul Amanmuradova and American Alexandra Stevenson.
France’s Virginie Razzano, the 13th seed, also cruised to a straight sets 6-1, 6-2 victory over American Mallory Cecil, while 11th seed Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine disposed of Luxembourg’s Anne Kremer 6-4, 6-0.
Top seed and world No. 3 Elena Dementieva of Russia enjoyed a first-round bye and will take on Julie Ditty in round two, after the American beat Japan’s Ayumi Morita 6-1, 6-1.
Second seed Venus Williams is drawn to play either India’s Sania Mirza or Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan after their first-round clash.
■BARCELONA OPEN
AP, BARCELONA, SPAIN
Top-seeded Alize Cornet of France was upset 6-0, 6-3 by compatriot Stephanie Cohen-Aloro in the first round of the Barcelona Open on Monday.
Cohen-Aloro saved six break chances against her in the first set and took advantage of Cornet’s ineffective service game — which netted just seven points in the opening set — to break her 14th-ranked opponent three times.
The 97th-ranked Cohen-Aloro then broke Cornet at the first opportunity in the second game of the second set for a 2-0 lead and then hung on for the victory after both players traded break points.
Second-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy broke Petra Kvitova seven times to overcome four breaks of her own serve in a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Czech. Pennetta will play Roberta Vinci, who beat Pauline Parmentier of France 6-4, 7-6 (7) in the second round.
Nearly a week after upsetting top-ranked Serena Williams in Andalucia, Klara Zakopalova lost 6-1, 7-6 (7) to Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova to bow out of the tournament.
■MONTE CARLO MASTERS
REUTERS, MONTE CARLO
Czech No. 15 seed Radek Stepanek was knocked out in the first round of the Monte Carlo Masters when he lost 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to Ecuador’s Nicolas Lapentti on Monday.
Lapentti, who reached sixth place in the ATP rankings in 1999 but had to labor through the qualifiers in Monte Carlo, broke decisively in the second game of the decider and wrapped up the win on his first match point.
The world No. 98 next faces the winner of yesterday’s battle between former No. 1s Marat Safin of Russia and Australian Lleyton Hewitt.
Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela beat Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 to set up a second-round meeting with world No. 1 Rafael Nadal.
Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia beat Kristof Vliegen of Belgium 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4.
SEESAW CONTEST: The Pistons remain top of the Eastern Conference after battling to a win over the Hawks in a game that saw the lead change 27 times The Phoenix Suns on Monday shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road. Booker exited in the first quarter, but the loss of the star point guard did little to halt the flow of Phoenix points over the remainder of the game. Dillon Brooks led the Phoenix scoring with 33 points, while Collin Gillespie added 28 — including eight three-pointers — as the Suns romped to victory. The Lakers were left ruing a colossal 22 turnovers — at a cost of 32 Suns points — on a
New Zealand yesterday reached 231-9 at stumps on a first day of the first Test against the West Indies shortened by rain after Justin Greaves triggered a middle-order collapse with the wicket of Kane Williamson. New Zealand tumbled from 94-1 to 148-6 on a bowler-friendly wicket after Williamson was dismissed for 52, his 38th Test half-century. Michael Bracewell and Nathan Smith arrested the slide with a 52-run stand for the seventh wicket. Smith eventually fell for 23 and Bracewell for 47. After Matt Henry went for 8, Zak Foulkes and Jacob Duffy were both on 4 when bad light stopped play after 70
Robin Smith, the batter who shone for England in a period when it was beaten regularly in Test cricket, has died. He was 62. Smith’s family said in a statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that he died unexpectedly at his home in Perth, Australia, on Monday. No cause was given. He played 62 Tests for England from 1988 to 1996, scoring 4,236 runs at an average of 43.67 with nine centuries. His signature shot was the square cut. Smith also played in 71 one-day internationals and was part of England’s squad who reached the 1992 ICC World Cup final. His unbeaten
SSC Napoli on Sunday joined AC Milan at the top of Serie A after winning 1-0 at title rivals AS Roma, as Inter kept pace with the leading pair by beating Pisa SC 2-0. David Neres stroked home the only goal of a feisty game in the 36th minute at the Stadio Olimpico, ending a blistering counterattack with a calm finish which put Napoli on 28 points. Napoli are behind Milan on goal-difference, and just one point ahead of both Roma and Inter in a tight scudetto battle in which Antonio Conte’s team are to host Juventus at the weekend. “To come to
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