Taiwanese qualifier Chang Kai-chen certainly rode her luck at the Guangzhou Open yesterday, grabbing a place in the first round as a lucky loser and then seeing her opponent, top seed Marion Bartoli of France, retire with a gastrointestinal illness when the Frenchwoman was 4-3 down in the first set.
That allowed Chang to advance to the second round, where she is set to face fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei, who defeated Nina Bratchikova of Russia 7-5, 6-3.
However, Chang’s good fortune did not rub off on fellow Taiwanese Chan Yung-jan, who retired from her match after feeling dizzy when 5-3 down to second seed Zheng Jie of China.
Eighth seed Alize Cornet had built a 6-3, 1-1 lead before Alexandra Panova stopped play because of a heat-related illness.
Mathilde Johansson of France upset sixth seed Monica Niculescu of Romanina 7-5, 6-2. The 27-year-old Johansson won despite 12 double-faults.
Third seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania defeated Chinese qualifier Hu Yue-yue 6-2, 7-5, despite dropping serve four times, while fourth seed Urszula Radwanska of Poland beat Melinda Czink of Hungary 7-6 (7-1), 6-2 and seventh seed Peng Shuai advanced with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-0 victory over Ayumi Morita.
Belarussian Olga Govortsova defeated qualifier Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 7-5, 6-2; Nudnina Luangnam of Thailand beat Australia’s Jarmila Gajdosova 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-2; wild-card Zheng Saisai edged Julia Cohen of the US 7-6 (7/1), 7-5; and Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum, who beat Chang in the final qualifying round on Monday, was beaten 6-2, 6-1 by Chinese wild-card Duan Ying-ying.
KOREA OPEN
Staff writer, with AP, SEOUL
Top seed Caroline Wozniacki reached the second round of the Korea Open by beating Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-2 yesterday.
Qualifier Jamie Hampton of the US also advanced, defeating Romina Oprandi of Switzerland 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, while Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain beat Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-4.
Third seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia cruised past wild-card Han Sung-hee 6-1, 6-0, while fifth seed Julia Georges of Germany fell at the first hurdle, beaten 1-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 by Spain’s Silvia Soler-Espinosa.
Sixth seed Varvara Lepchenko of the US defeated Italy’s Camila Giorgi 6-2 7-6 (7/1), while No. 7 seed Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic had to work hard to dispose of Spain’s Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(7/1) and eighth seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia beat Polona Hercog of Slovenia 6-4, 6-1.
Veterans Kimiko Date-Krumm and Vania King both fell at the first hurdle, Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia defeating Japan’s Date-Krumm 6-4, 6-3, while Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands beat King of the US 6-3, 6-1.
Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva beat wild-card Hong Hyun-hui 6-1, 6-2, while qualifier Caroline Garcia of France advanced after defeating Romania’s Alexandra Cadantu 6-2, 6-3.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS