German Sabine Lisicki defeated Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan 6-1, 6-4 at the Dubai Championships on Sunday to line up a second-round clash with holder Venus Williams.
“I was very aggressive with my returns and hit some very good winners off her second serve and I think she got scared after that because I put pressure on her,” Lisicki told reporters.
Three seeds were in action on the first day, with No. 11 Marion Bartoli of France sweeping aside Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-0 and No. 14 Francesca Schiavone of Italy beating Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 7-5.
PHOTO: AFP
Australian Open semi-finalist and 16th seed Zheng Jie of China, who received medical attention during the match after feeling unwell, was upset 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 by Australian Alicia Molik.
The event has lost world No. 1 Serena Williams and No. 2 Dinara Safina to injury but still features 16 of the top 20, with Caroline Wozniacki the top seed and Svetlana Kuznetsova as second seed.
The tournament also includes Israel’s Shahar Peer, who plays 13th seed Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium in her opening match.
Peer was refused entry to the country last year, resulting in a threat to remove the tournament from the schedule and an unprecedented US$300,000 fine.
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
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
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