It was a mixed day for Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen at the Guangzhou Open in China yesterday.
Chang came up against Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand in the final round of qualifying for the singles tournament yesterday morning on Court 1 and was knocked out, with the Thai winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 to advance to the first round.
Chang returned on Court 2 in the afternoon with her doubles partner Shuko Aoyama of Japan to advance to the second round by beating Russians Nina Bratchikova and Alla Kudryavtseva 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 10-1.
The Chan sisters, Hao-ching and Yung-jan, the No. 2 seeds, also made it a mixed day for Taiwanese players when they defeated Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei and Sun Sheng-nan of China 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in the final match on Center Court.
Earlier, defending singles champion Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Chinese wild-card Wang Qiang.
The 27-year-old Scheepers, who last year became the first South African woman in eight years to win a WTA title, needed 72 minutes to dispose of her opponent and set up a second-round meeting with 58th-ranked Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia.
Jovanovski also had an easy first-round win, beating Timea Babos of Hungary 6-1, 6-3.
Mandy Minella of Luxembourg had a tougher time in defeating Pauline Parmentier of France 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 on Court 3.
Britain’s Laura Robson advanced when Spain’s Maria-Teresa Toro-Flor retired injured when the Briton was leading 6-2, 3-1.
BELL CHALLENGE
AFP, QUEBEC
Kirsten Flipkens made the most of her first WTA finals opportunity, capping a dream week at the Bell Challenge with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over eighth-seeded Lucie Hradecka in Sunday’s final.
Both finalists were seeking a first career WTA title. Hradecka had come up short in four prior finals, while Flipkens, 26, had never before reached a championship match.
It did not look that way on Sunday as she dispatched Hradecka of the Czech Republic in 69 minutes.
Her triumph punctuated a week that included the first-round upset of top-seeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova and a semi-final win over third-seeded German Mona Barthel.
Flipkens’ previous best WTA showings were four trips to the semi-finals, most recently at ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, this year.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
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Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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