World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki captured her third title this year on Sunday, launching her clay court season with a victory over Elena Vesnina in the Family Circle Cup final.
The top-seeded Dane defeated Vesnina 6-2, 6-3 to add the title to those she won at Dubai and Indian Wells, California, and admitted the triumph on Charleston’s green clay had her looking ahead to the red clay of Roland Garros.
She had a match point against Li Na, but eventually fell to the Chinese player in the semi-finals of this year’s Australian Open.
Photo: Reuters
“The draw has to fit, I have to play well for two weeks, things like that all have to work together,” Wozniacki said.
She showed her toughness this week. She dropped just one set in five matches, to Yanina Wickmayer in the quarter-finals, and defeated former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic in straight sets to reach the final for the second time.
Wozniacki saved all four break points she faced against 56th-ranked Vesnina, including two in the seventh game of the second set to douse the Russian’s best chance to mount a challenge.
“I mean, sometimes you feel like she’s everywhere on the court,” Vesnina said.
Vesnina managed to hold on under pressure through much of the second frame, fending off five break points before Wozniacki finally broke for a 5-3 lead.
Wozniacki then served out the match, taking the title on her first match point.
Vesnina had toppled four seeded opponents to reach the championship match, but she sounded like all of Wozniacki’s opponents this week as she marveled at the way the Dane finds ways to win.
“It’s not like she was like Serena, you know, powerful play,” Vesnina said. “Caroline, she’s using pace. She’s using the whole court and she’s playing smart tennis.”
Wozniacki fell to Sabine Lisicki in the 2009 Charleston final, then made a disappointing injury exit last year after hurting her ankle in the semi-finals.
ANDALUCIA EXPERIENCE
AP, MARBELLA, SPAIN
Top-seeded Victoria Azarenka beat Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-3, 6-2 to win the Andalucia Tennis Experience on Sunday.
The Belarussian player broke Begu’s serve four times in the first set and three times in the second on her way to her second consecutive title after winning the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida, earlier this month.
Azarenka dominated the entire tournament in southern Spain, not dropping more than three games in any set. She has now won a personal best 11 consecutive matches.
It was Begu’s first tour final. The 20-year-old Romanian had never won a main draw match on the WTA tour before playing through qualification and making her unexpected run to the final.
US CLAY COURT
AFP, HOUSTON, TEXAS
US wild card Ryan Sweeting captured his first ATP Tour title — in his first final — by beating Kei Nishikori 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) at the US Clay Court Championships on Sunday.
Sweeting is the first wild card winner in this tournament since fellow American Mardy Fish did it five years ago. He is also the fifth first-time winner on the tour this season.
Sweeting, who earned US$80,000 in prize money, celebrated with a cannonball leap into the River Oaks Country Club swimming pool.
The 21-year-old Nishikori of Japan didn’t go home empty handed as he collected US$42,000.
His late comeback just fell short as Sweeting edged him in a second set tiebreaker.
The 10th game of the second set went back and forth as the pair dueled through 26 points.
Sweeting eventually held serve when sixth-seeded Nishikori’s lob sailed long.
Sweeting hit a forehand volley winner in the tiebreaker to get it to match point. He sealed the win when Nishikori’s forehand went wide.
“I didn’t want a third set,” Sweeting said.
Sweeting will see his world ranking go from 93 to 71 with this win and Nishikori’s will improve from 61st to 49th.
Nishikori is trying to catch former Japanese star Shuzo Matsuoka, who holds the Japanese world ranking record of 46.
Nishikori has come a long way since undergoing elbow surgery two years ago, which dropped him right out of the ATP ranking system.
He was hoping a victory in Houston would provide some inspiration and hope to Japan in the wake of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
“I wasn’t aggressive enough,” Nishikori said. “I really wanted to win, but I think he deserved it today. He played well, better.”
Nishikori is working with his fellow tennis players in setting up a Web site where people can bid on items to raise money for Japanese victims of the quake and tsunami.
A tennis shirt worn by Spain’s Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open has already surpassed the US$5,200 mark. There is also a tennis racket signed by former grand slam winner John McEnroe and one of Maria Sharapova’s tennis shoes.
CASABLANCA ATP
AFP, CASABLANCA, MOROCCO
Unseeded Spaniard Pablo Andujar breezed past Italian fifth-seed Potito Starace 6-1, 6-2 on Sunday to win the US$450,000 Casablanca ATP tournament for his first major career success.
Andujar, ranked 69th in the world, handed 47th-ranked Starace a fourth career final defeat to leave the latter still looking for his first tournament win. Starace was sluggish after Saturday’s tough win over Romanian eighth-seed Victor Hanescu, whereas Andujar was on a high after seeing off top-seeded compatriot Albert Montanes in his semi.
MONTE CARLO
AP, MONACO
Ernests Gulbis beat 14th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Sunday.
The Latvian hit nine aces and broke Dolgopolov’s serve twice in each set.
He next meets Milos Raonic after the Canadian beat Michael Llodra of France 6-3, 0-6, 6-0.
Gulbis is looking to pick up his form. He reached the quarter-finals at Doha, Qatar, and the semi-finals at Sydney, Australia. However, the 22-year-old Latvian has won just two matches in the last five tournaments since then.
He reached the semi-finals on clay at the Rome Masters and the quarter-finals at the Madrid Masters last year.
The 20-year-old Raonic, in his first appearance at Monte Carlo, broke Llodra three times in the deciding set. Raonic had also beaten Llodra at this year’s Australian Open, where he came through the qualifiers to reach the fourth round.
The big-serving Ljubicic needed little more than an hour to crush Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-1, 6-2, and Kohlschreiber rallied past Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-4 to line up a match with Roger Federer, seeded second.
“With the level I played at today, I think I could have lost against many players,” Chardy said.
Ljubicic next plays either No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France or Argentina’s Juan Monaco.
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
The horn sounded on Wednesday night to signal a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final, as the Florida Panthers celebrated merely by hopping over the boards and several heading over to congratulate goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. It was a subdued celebration seemingly more befitting a regular-season win for the reigning Cup champs. “I remember a few years ago, it felt like such an accomplishment from where we were at one point,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said, adding: “It’s all business and we’ve got a bigger goal in mind.” The Panthers closed out the Carolina Hurricanes in five games, with a 5-3 victory in
STRONG CONNECTION: Although she has considered switching nationalities, Garland said that if it was not for Taiwan’s support throughout her career, she would not be in Paris British-Taiwanese player Joanna Garland on Tuesday became the first Taiwanese to clinch a victory in a main singles draw of the French Open since 2020 after she outlasted the US’ Katie Volynets in Paris. The world No. 175, Taiwan’s highest-ranked female player in singles, said she would rely on her self-belief as she prepares for her second-round match at the French Open after overcoming a serious injury to qualify for a maiden Grand Slam appearance. After navigating her way through the qualifiers last week, Garland secured her first win at the main draw of a Grand Slam by battling past world No.
RSS