South Africa’s Chanelle Scheepers won her first WTA title yesterday, beating Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-2 in the final of the Guangzhou Open.
Scheepers, the seventh seed, broke her opponent four times and saved two break points on her own serve.
Scheepers is ranked 73rd in the world, just one spot below -Rybarikova. The Slovakian player had been trying for her second title of the season.
Photo: AFP
Scheepers fought of a match point in the second round and knocked off top-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 in a 3 hour, 23 minute semi-final match on Friday.
She’s the first South African woman to win a title since Amanda Coetzer at Acapulco in 2003.
“The title means a lot to me because I’ve worked so hard, to finally win one is really rewarding,” she said. “Being the first since Amanda is the cherry on the cake.”
KOREA OPEN
AP, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
Maria-Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain and Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan advanced to the Korea Open final with straight-set wins yesterday.
Martinez Sanchez, the sixth seed, defeated Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-2, in the first semi-final at the Olympic Park and Voskoboeva upset fifth-seeded Polona Hercog of Slovenia in the other match, 6-1, 6-4.
Voskoboeva will be going for her first WTA title in today’s final, while Martinez Sanchez will be aiming for her fifth title overall and second of the year.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS