Venus Williams beat Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals of the Brazil Tennis Cup on Wednesday.
Williams converted on her fourth match point to beat the 96th-ranked Muguruza in 2 hours, 12 minutes on a hard court in the southern Brazilian city of Florianopolis.
The American had squandered three match points at 5-4 after getting back on serve late in the third set, but finally closed out the match with her first break point of the final game.
The 20th-ranked Williams is the top-seeded player in Brazil. She is playing her first tournament since losing to Maria Sharapova in the third round of the Australian Open in January.
Williams is now scheduled to play fifth-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, who defeated qualifier Beatriz Garcia Vidagany of Spain 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
The 52nd-ranked Rybarikova saved 13 of the 21 break opportunities she conceded in the match that lasted 2 hours, 33 minutes.
Earlier on Wednesday, Timea Babos of Hungary beat the fourth-seeded Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa 6-1, 6-2.
The 133rd-ranked Babos broke Scheepers’ serve five times. Scheepers, ranked 60th in the world, had eight break points, but converted only one of them.
Babos will play Monica Niculescu of Romania, who easily beat defeated Tereza Mrdeza of Croatia 6-1, 6-1.
Olga Puchkova of Russia continued her remarkable run with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Caroline Garcia of France.
Puchkova upset third-seeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium in the first round.
Puchkova will play in the quarter-finals against Jana Cepelova of Slovakia, who beat eighth-seeded Annika Beck of Germany 7-6 (8/6), 6-4.
Melinda Czink of Hungary, who eliminated second-seeded and 34th-ranked Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan in the first round, defeated Brazilian Bia Haddad Maia 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) to set up a quarter-final match against Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic, who cruised past Tatjana Malek of Germany 6-2, 6-1.
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time at the end of normal time as ugly scenes broke out in the stands. However, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved the weak attempted “Panenka” chip by the Real Madrid winger, who was clearly distracted by the long delay that followed the penalty award.
James Harden on Friday scored 31 points and came up big in overtime to help the Los Angeles Clippers erase a double-digit deficit on the way to a 121-117 NBA victory over the Toronto Raptors. Harden scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Clippers pushed their wining steak to five games despite the absence of star Kawhi Leonard with a sprained right ankle. The Clippers trailed by 11 entering the fourth quarter, but Harden drilled a pair of free-throws with 1:24 left in regulation to tie it and after misses from both teams, they went to
Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah on Saturday secured his sixth Dakar Rally car title in Saudi Arabia with Luciano Benavides scraping home by two seconds to claim the motorbike title. “We’ve worked very hard since last year. I might not be showing much emotion yet, but it’s there, deep down. We are so happy to win,” al-Attiyah said at the finish. Al-Attiyah, at the wheel of a Dacia, only had to avoid a final day slip-up to top the podium after bringing his career tally of stage wins to 50 on Friday. The 55-year-old, who took clay pigeon shooting bronze at the
Tobias Harris on Monday scored 25 points as the Detroit Pistons held off the Boston Celtics to score a 104-103 victory in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference showdown. Harris was one of four Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Jalen Duren adding 18 points and point guard Cade Cunningham scoring 16 points with 14 assists. The win sees Detroit extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to 31-10, 5.5 games ahead of second-placed Boston, who fell to 26-16 with the defeat. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics scoring with 32 points and almost snatched victory in the
RSS