Poland’s world No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska breezed past Spaniard Larra Arruabarrena 6-0, 6-2 in the semi-finals of the Korea Open yesterday to set up a title clash with Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Pavlyuchenkova, seeded third, had a tough outing against former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy, but eventually prevailed in the other semi-final.
In a match that could have gone either way and saw only two breaks in 24 service games, the Russian third seed dug deep against the spirited Italian to win 7-6 (13/11), 7-6 (8/6).
Photo: EPA
She had to save three set points in the first set tie-break and battled back from 3-0 down in the second set breaker to close it out.
Top-seeded Radwanska continued her good form on her Seoul debut, having dropped just 11 games in four matches, and only needed 64 minutes to thrash the Spaniard, ranked 113 in the world.
“It was definitely a very good match. I was playing really good tennis,” Radwanska said, after reaching her fourth final of the year.
“It was really hot out there, but I played my 100 percent throughout the match, so that’s why it was two quick sets,” she said.
In the semi-finals of the women’s doubles Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei Chan and Xu Yi-fan of China continued their impressive run by defeating third seeds Shuko Aoyama of Japan and Megan Moulton-Levy of the US 7-5, 6-1. The Taiwanese/Chinese duo will face top seeds Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears of the US in today’s final.
Additional reporting by staff writer
GUANGZHOU OPEN
Reuters
China’s wild-card entrant Zhang Shuai won her maiden WTA Tour singles title with a 7-6 (7/1) 6-1 victory over Taiwanese-American qualifier Vania King in the Guangzhou Open final yesterday.
Playing in her first singles final, the 112th-ranked Zhang continued her run of straight-set victories to win the US$500,000 hard-court tournament in front of a delighted home crowd.
After an evenly matched first set, Zhang ran through the second, winning 16 of the last 17 points against the 124th-ranked King.
Zhang became the fifth Chinese player to win a WTA title after Li Na, Zheng Jie, Yan Zi and Sun Tiantian.
In the doubles final top seeds Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Peng Shuai of China defeated King and Kazakshtan’s Galina Voskoboeva, the No. 3 seeds, 6-3, 4-6, 12-10.
Additional reporting by staff writer
US President Donald Trump’s granddaughter, Kai Trump, is poised to make her LPGA Tour debut after receiving a sponsor invitation on Tuesday to the Nov. 13 to 16 tournament at Pelican Golf Club in Florida. “My dream has been to compete with the best in the world on the LPGA Tour,” Kai Trump said in a statement posted on the LPGA’s Web site. “This event will be an incredible experience,” she said. “I look forward [to] meeting and competing against so many of my heroes and mentors in golf as I make my LPGA Tour debut.” The 18-year-old high-school senior,
REACTION: Less than 24 hours after a 18-inning Game 3 loss, the Blue Jays’ win ensured that the best-of-seven series is to head back to Toronto for Game 6 tomorrow Vladimir Guerrero Jr on Tuesday blasted a two-run home run as the Toronto Blue Jays bounced back to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 and tie the MLB World Series at two games apiece. Less than 24 hours after a shattering 18-inning Game 3 loss, the Blue Jays climbed off the canvas to breathe new life into their hopes of a first MLB title in 32 years. Guerrero’s two-run blast off Dodgers starter Shohei Ohtani and a superb pitching performance from ace Shane Bieber laid the foundations for a gutsy victory that silenced Dodger Stadium. “I’m always trying to compete
Jannik Sinner on Thursday eased past Francisco Cerundolo 7-5, 6-1 at the Paris Masters to set up a quarter-final clash with Ben Shelton, while reigning champion Alexander Zverev earned a straight-sets win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round. A maiden crown in the French capital would return Sinner to No. 1 in the world rankings after current incumbent Carlos Alcaraz suffered a shock early exit at the hands of Britain’s Cameron Norrie. The Italian four-time Grand Slam champion is yet to drop a set in the tournament as he hones in on what would be a fifth title of the
Retired defender Jerome Boateng on Saturday pulled out of a planned coaching internship at Bayern Munich after fans voiced their objection due to the FIFA 2014 World Cup winner being found guilty of assaulting a former girlfriend last year. The former Bayern and Germany defender, who played for the club between 2011 and 2021, had discussed a short internship with coach Vincent Kompany. “Following the recent discussion regarding myself, I have decided to focus on my issues such as the A training license.... That is where my focus is,” he said in a social media post addressed to Bayern and
RSS