Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska gained a measure of revenge over Jamie Hampton by outplaying the American 6-3, 6-2 to gain the final of the Bank of the West Classic on Saturday.
The fourth-ranked Pole will face third seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, who powered past Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-0 to make her first final.
Radwanska had fallen to the up-and-coming American at a pre-Wimbledon tournament in Birmingham, England, last month, but in California on hard courts, she dictated play most of the evening, never allowing Hampton to get on top of her.
The fourth seed Hampton started the match fairly strong, but the Pole began to yank her around the court, mixing in deft drop shots, sharp angles and hard drives.
The American quickly became unsettled, while the quick Radwanska played steady and raced away with the match.
Radwanska finished the match with 11 winners and seven unforced errors, while Hampton ripped 24 winners and committed 35 unforced errors.
Radwanska, who has struggled mightily in her three set quarter-final win over Varvara Lepchenko, was pleased with the improvement in her game.
In her sixth appearance on the campus of Stanford University, world No. 25 Cibulkova got through a rough patch at the start of the first set and then she battered the fifth-seeded Cirstea with powerful ground strokes and returns.
Cibulkova managed to hold to 5-3 after a marathon eighth game in which she fought off four break points and the momentum clearly shifted as she reeled off seven out of the next eight games.
The 23-year-old Cibulkova had few problems in the second set as she made a strategic shift by moving her position on the return of serve and cutting off the Romanian’s favored serves out wide.
Cirstea grew wild and all the Slovak had to do was play steady and keep the ball deep to win the match.
Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday fought through a second-set slump to post a roller-coaster 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Damir Dzumhur in his opening match at the Cincinnati Open. The Spaniard, playing his first tournament since losing to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final, raced through the first set, but completely lost his way in the second, dropping his serve twice against the 33-year-old Bosnian. Alcaraz regained his intensity and cut down his errors in the third set as a seventh ace took him to a match point that was converted when Dzumhur fired wide. “It was just a roller coaster,” said the second
NEXT ROUND: World No. 1s Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka opened their title defenses with straight-sets wins, while Iga Swiatek and Taylor Fritz also advanced Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka got their title defenses off to smooth starts as they powered into the third round of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Saturday. The men’s and women’s top seeds, each ranked No. 1 in the world, were both competing for the first time since Wimbledon, where Sinner lifted the title and Sabalenka bowed out in the women’s semi-finals. Sinner crushed Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan 6-1, 6-1 in steamy afternoon weather, while Sabalenka beat 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 6-1 under the lights of the night session. Sabalenka needed 54 minutes and a service break in the final game
Taiwan’s men’s basketball team on Monday clinched a spot in the FIBA Asia Cup quarter-finals with a 78-64 win over Jordan in Saudi Arabia, securing their best finish in the tournament since placing fourth in 2013. The win was sweet revenge for Taiwan, who were denied a quarter-final spot by Jordan at the same stage of the previous Asia Cup in 2022 after blowing a nine-point lead in the final minute and losing 97-96 on a half-court buzzer-beater. “History is part of the journey,” Taiwan head coach Gianluca Tucci said when asked about the 2022 collapse of the team, who he did
Leicester City on Sunday launched their quest for an immediate return to the English Premier League with a 2-1 win at home to crisis club Sheffield Wednesday after the visitors’ supporters protested against Owls owner Dejphon Chansiri. Wednesday are under several English Football League embargoes for a range of financial breaches, with payments of wages to players and staff delayed for the past three months. Owls fans made their feelings toward Thai businessman Chansiri clear by delaying their entry to their seats and the away end was empty as the players came onto the pitch at the King Power Stadium, with a
RSS