Taiwanese duo Chan Chin-wei and Hsu Chieh-yu advanced to the Korea Open semi-finals in Seoul yesterday after a 6-3, 6-2 victory over fourth seeds Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia and Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic.
Chan and Hsu saved two of the five break-point chances they faced and converted six of 10 to complete the straight-sets victory in 56 minutes in the South Korean capital.
The Taiwanese face Mona Barthel and Mandy Minella in the semi-finals after the German-Luxembourger duo cruised past Elena Bogdan of Romania and Hiroko Kuwata of Japan 6-0, 6-2 in their quarter-final yesterday.
Photo: Reuters
In the singles, Russia’s Maria Kirilenko reached her first quarter-final of the year when she came from behind to beat third seed Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic.
The former world No. 10, who has fallen out of the top 100 this year because of a knee injury, dropped the first set 6-7 (4/7), but she bounced back in style.
She won the second set 6-4, before an emphatic 6-0 victory in the third sealed her first last-eight appearance of the season as her comeback gains momentum.
“To be honest, because I had an injury for a while, my ranking went down,” said Kirilenko, who was out of action for the first three months of this year. “However, it’s not a problem for me. I already know if I start playing well again, my ranking will be going up again.”
“It was obviously disappointing to be injured and I really missed playing, but I had some rest and tried to enjoy my time away,” Kirilenko said. “Now I’m really practicing and trying hard to get back in my best shape.”
The Russian next plays sixth-seeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi, who also rallied to defeat Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, for a place in the semi-finals.
Thursday’s other winners were fourth seed Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, who beat Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-2, 6-2, and Nicole Gibbs of the US, who came from a set down to beat Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).
PAN PACIFIC OPEN
AP, TOKYO
Second seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark rallied from a set down to beat qualifier Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 yesterday to advance to the quarter-finals of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.
The US Open finalist next takes on eighth seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain in today’s quarter-finals.
Suarez Navarro defeated Daria Gavrilova of Russia 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.
In the remaining second-round matches, Garbine Muguruza of Spain defeated fourth seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, while Casey Dellacqua of Australia beat Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 6-2, 6-4.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
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