Holder Venus Williams completed her circuitous route to the WTA Championships final, beating Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday to set up yet another showdown with sister Serena.
Serena got past Caroline Wozniacki after the Dane pulled out with a stomach injury when trailing 6-4, 0-1.
The Williams sisters met across the net in the Qatari capital last week, Serena winning a three-set scrap in their Maroon Group clash.
There was to be no Williams clean sweep yesterday though, after they lost 2-6, 6-4, 10-8 in the doubles semi-final to Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. The Spanish duo were to face world No. 1 pairing Cara Black of Zimbabwe and American Liezel Huber yesterday.
After her win over Svetlana Kuznetsova, some complicated mathematics edged Venus into the last four by virtue of sets won.
Jankovic also enjoyed good fortune to qualify for the last four when Dinara Safina retired after two games of their White Group clash on Wednesday.
■VIENNA OPEN
REUTERS, VIENNA
Home favorite Juergen Melzer followed up his quarter-final win over second seed Radek Stepanek by beating Janko Tipsarevic 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 on Saturday to reach the Vienna Open final.
The Austrian was set to meet top seed and world No. 13 Marin Cilic after his 6-4, 7-6 win over German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
■LYON GRAND PRIX
REUTERS, LYON, FRANCE
Gilles Simon’s hopes of securing a spot in the World Tour Finals suffered a setback when he was defeated 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 by fellow Frenchman Michael Llodra in the semi-finals of the Lyon Grand Prix on Saturday.
Llodra was to face Ivan Ljubicic in yesterday’s final after the Croatian dismissed French wildcard Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-4.
■ST PETERSBURG OPEN
SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky battled into the final of the US$750,000 St Petersburg Open after defeating Russia’s Marat Safin in the semi-final on Saturday.
Stakhovsky won 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in one hour, 48 minutes to level his head-to-head record with the local crowd favorite at one all.
In yesterday’s final, Stakhovsky was scheduled to meet eighth seed Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, who saw off Russian Igor Kunitsyn 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 in what was their first ever meeting.
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
BRING THE NOISE: Brazil’s Fonseca attracted a boisterous crowd that brought such dominant soccer-style energy the referee switched to Portuguese to ask for quiet Australia’s Alex de Minaur on Monday put an end to Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca’s challenge at the Miami Open, outlasting the 18-year-old 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in an enthralling contest. Attendance on stadium court had been sparse throughout the day, but the Hard Rock Stadium turned into a mini-Maracana Stadium for Fonseca’s match, complete with Brazilian flags and soccer-style chanting. Fonseca brought his energetic brand of ultra-attacking tennis, but De Minaur was up to the challenge, coping with blistering forehands and a partisan crowd. Such was the dominance of Fonseca’s raucous support that the referee switched to Portuguese for his appeals for quiet. However, De
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