Taiwan made a perfect start to their Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group 1 relegation play-off against Indonesia in Greater Kaohsiung yesterday by claiming both singles matches to go 2-0 up in the best-of-five tie.
Huang Liang-chi made short work of world No. 1,787 Wisnu Adi Nugroho 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 in the first rubber before Chen Ti saw off Christopher Rungkat 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.
Lee Hsin-han and Peng Hsien-yin are due to face Indonesian duo Elbert Sie and David Agung Susanto in today’s doubles, knowing that victory will claim the tie for the hosts.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
The winners of the tie, which concludes with tomorrow’s reverse singles, will retain their place in Asia/Oceania Group 1 with the losers dropping down to Group II.
Meanwhile, a swashbuckling Kei Nishikori gave Japan the lead over Colombia in their Davis Cup World Group playoff, only for Santiago Giraldo to play spoiler by winning a cliffhanger to leave the tie deadlocked at 1-1.
World No. 12 Nishikori never looked in danger against Alejandro Falla, with two love service games to open the match setting the tone for a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory and giving Japan an early boost in their push for a return to the world group.
However, Giraldo gave the Japanese plenty to think about with a battling 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 win over Go Soeda after turning on the power in the final set with some brutal hitting on the indoor hard courts in Tokyo.
Nishikori and Soeda take on Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal in today’s doubles.
A seven-year-old horse had to be euthanized on Friday after breaking its back on the final fence of a Grand National steeplechase race that it won despite sustaining the serious injury. It follows the death of four horses at the Cheltenham Festival last month — including one after the prestigious Gold Cup. Gold Dancer was competing in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase during Ladies Day at Aintree’s Grand National Festival. The horse managed to cross the finish line approximately four lengths ahead of runner-up Regent’s Stroll. “The winner of our second race of the day, Gold Dancer, was pulled up after
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess. “I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.” “I just
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
RSS