Robin Soderling’s smooth buildup to this month’s Australian Open continued with a business-like 6-3, 6-2 victory over local qualifier Matt Ebden in their Brisbane International quarter-final yesterday.
The world No. 5 broke his 196th-ranked opponent once in the first set and twice in the second, before sealing the match with an ace.
“I’ve been serving really well all week. I haven’t been broken yet and today especially I managed to serve really well when it really matters,” the Swede said.
PHOTO: EPA
Soderling will meet last year’s finalist and 2009 champion Radek Stepanek in the semi-finals, after the Czech upset seventh-seeded German Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-3.
Defending champ Andy Roddick will contest the other semi with South African Kevin Anderson.
In the women’s semi-final, Germany’s Andrea Petkovic stunned former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli of France 6-4, 6-2.
Trailing 4-1 in the first set, Petkovic won five games on the trot and did not take her foot off the pedal in the second set either.
She meets Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the final after the Russian beat Petra Kvitova 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in the second semi-final.
HOPMAN CUP
AFP, PERTH, AUSTRALIA
A stomach injury to Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic has gifted Belgium a place in the mixed-teams Hopman Cup final today against the US.
The Serbian pairing of Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic were top seeds and led Group A after winning two of their three round-robin ties, with Belgian duo Justine Henin and Ruben Bemelmans second despite beating the Serbs on Thursday.
However, Ivanovic hurt her stomach in a singles loss to Henin and the injury recurred at practice yesterday. She underwent scans and was ruled out of the final.
The US pairing of Bethanie Mattek-Sands and John Isner only needed to win one rubber against Britain in their Group B tie yesterday to reach the final, which they duly claimed when Mattek-Sands beat Laura Robson in the women’s singles.
WORLD TEAM CHALLENGE
AFP, HONG KONG
Venus Williams crashed in Hong Kong yesterday as her preparations for the Australian Open were marred by a second straight-sets defeat in as many days.
China’s Li Na dominated the seven-time Grand Slam winner in a 6-3, 7-6 victory, helping Asia-Pacific to draw level with the Americas in the silver final of Hong Kong’s World Team Challenge yesterday.
The Hong Kong exhibition features four three-player teams representing Europe, Russia, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region.
The consolation silver group final, between the Americas and Asia-Pacific, consisted of three singles matches and one doubles match.
Earlier Melanie Oudin beat Hong Kong’s Zhang Ling in straight sets.
Mark Philippoussis of Australia was drawn against John McEnroe of the US in the “legends” rubber.
In the final clash of the evening, France’s Aravane Rezai was due to take on Russian Maria Kirilenko in a gold group singles clash.
AUCKLAND CLASSIC
REUTERS, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
Champion Yanina Wickmayer survived a scare yesterday to advance to a final against giant-killing Greta Arn, who has beaten three seeds on her way to the final.
The Belgian had to dig deep against China’s Peng Shuai before winning 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 in the first semi-final, while Arn beat fourth seed Julia Goerges 7-6, 6-3.
Arn’s victory was her third of the week against seeded players, having beaten top-seed Maria Sharapova on Thursday and eighth seed Sofia Arvidsson earlier in the week.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
Batting great Virat Kohli yesterday announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket, just days before India name their squad for a tour to England. Kohli, who scored 9,230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85, posted his decision on Instagram five days after India captain Rohit Sharma called time on his own Test career. Since making his debut in 2011, Kohli struck 30 hundreds and 31 fifties with a highest score of 254 not out, mainly batting at number four in the order. “It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket,” the
RSS