Former top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the quarter-finals of the Kremlin Cup on Wednesday by beating Urszula Radwanska of Poland 6-1, 6-3, while second seed Marion Bartoli was knocked out.
Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden posted the biggest surprise of the tournament so far by eliminating Bartoli 6-3, 6-0 in the second round.
The third-seeded Wozniacki won five consecutive games in the first set and then broke Radwanska twice in the second to take a 5-2 lead. She then wasted four match points when trying to serve out the match before Radwanska broke to stay in the contest. However, the Pole sent a forehand wide in the next game to hand Wozniacki the victory.
She next faces defending champion Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, who advanced to the final eight with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.
Arvidsson, who won her second career title in Memphis this year, will face either seventh-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko or Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.
The result means the 10th-ranked Bartoli cannot overtake No. 9 Samantha Stosur and will remain the second alternate at the season-ending WTA Championships next week in Istanbul.
Klara Zakopalova advanced to the final eight by defeating eighth-seeded Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-4 in an all-Czech match, while Valeria Solovieva of Russia moved into the second round by downing Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-4, 6-2.
In first-round action, Kirilenko topped fellow Russian Elena Vesnina 7-5, 6-1.
In men’s second-round play, Malek Jaziri of Tunisia upset the third-seeded 2010 champion Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
The Philippines curling team has been rocking it in Harbin, claiming the tropical nation’s first Asian Winter Games medal yesterday with a victory in the men’s final against South Korea. The team of Marc Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and alternate Benjo Delarmente took gold with a 5-3 win at Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena. The Philippines Olympic Committee was quick to celebrate with a post on Instagram to mark the historic gold. “This is the first-ever medal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, and the highest achievement for a Southeast Asian athlete in the Games’ history! What an incredible
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien on Tuesday dumped compatriot and second seed Hsieh Su-wei out of the women’s doubles at the Qatar Open to set up another potential Taiwanese showdown, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock defeat in the second round. Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu, who earlier this year won the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Hobart International, defeated Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 10-5 in 1 hour, 29 minutes on Grandstand Court 3 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. Wu and Jiang on Sunday advanced to the round-of-16 with a 7-6 (7/7),