Taiwanese No. 1 Lu Yen-hsun advanced to the second round of the China Open in Beijing yesterday after overcoming France’s Adrian Mannarino for the first time in four attempts.
The Taiwanese world No. 100, who was handed a wild card for the tournament, beat 39th-ranked Mannarino 6-3, 6-2 in just 55 minutes, his first victory over the Frenchman after losses at the French Open last year and in Delray Beach, Florida, and s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, earlier this season.
Lu next faces world No. 24 Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who upset fifth seed Milos Raonic of Canada 6-4, 6-4.
Photo: Reuters
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal stuttered to victory against one of his former ball boys as top-ranked Novak Djokovic swept imperiously to his 25th straight win in Beijing.
Out-of-sorts Nadal was broken four times by China’s 230th-ranked Wu Di, who once tossed him balls and towels in Shanghai, before winning an error-strewn match 6-4, 6-4.
Nadal, 29, was playing for the first time since his third-round defeat at the US Open, but it was a far from satisfying return as the 14-time Grand Slam-winner continued to grope for form.
“We don’t need to talk more about confidence, rhythm. That’s my level today, and I’m going to work hard to try to improve my level of today,” he said, after reaching the second round. “But tomorrow is another opportunity. I played a match today that I can play better, and I think I can play better tomorrow because I’m practicing well.”
On a heavily polluted day in Beijing, Wu anticipated superbly when he lunged for a forehand volley winner for his first break of the Spaniard early in the first set, and he was not done yet.
Wu broke again to go ahead in the second set but with both players uncomfortable on serve, Nadal was able to wrap it up after 86 minutes and progress to a second-round meeting with Vasek Pospisil.
“I’m practicing well, so the level of tennis is going to be there sooner or later. I am working a lot to make that happen. I think I’m closer to that,” Nadal said.
“I know it’s obvious that I need results to confirm that, but we are almost at the end of this season and I have time to keep playing the last tournaments of the year with the chance to practice the things that I need to do for next year,” he said. “My goal is recover the level especially to play my best on clay next year.”
Nadal and Wu then yielded the smoggy center court to Djokovic and the Serb, fresh from winning his 10th Grand Slam title in New York, had little difficulty dispatching Simone Bolelli 6-1, 6-1.
The five-time champion was all over Bolelli’s second serve as he hustled the Italian off the court in just 71 minutes to take his incredible unbeaten record into a sixth China Open campaign.
It was an afternoon that underlined the gulf that has opened up between Djokovic and Nadal, once his close rival, but now down to eighth in the world and a shadow of his fearsome best.
Nadal is using the year’s final events as practice for next season, after a forgettable year in which he did not progress beyond the quarter-finals of any of the Grand Slams.
As for Wu, 24, it completed a journey after he was a ball boy for the Spanish great at the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, and later progressed to become his practice partner.
“As for the ATP Finals [Tennis Masters Cup], I served as the ball boy for Rafa. So right now I played Rafa. It’s not a small deal,” he said.
In the women’s doubles, the Chan sisters’ bid for a place at the WTA Finals in Singapore later this month was given a boost when they were handed a walkover into the quarter-finals.
The sixth-seeded Taiwanese sisters advanced when their opponents, German duo Mona Barthel and Anna-Lena Groenefeld, pulled out ahead of their second-round match.
Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan next face a tough clash against second seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US and Elena Vesnina of Russia.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Kosovo Olympic authorities have asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to open disciplinary proceedings against Novak Djokovic, accusing the Serb of stirring up political tension by saying “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” at the French Open. Djokovic wrote the message on a camera lens following his first-round win on Monday, the same day that 30 NATO peacekeeping troops were hurt in clashes with Serb protesters in the Kosovo town of Zvecan where Djokovic’s father grew up. “Kosovo is our cradle, our stronghold, center of the most important things for our country,” 36-year-old told Serbian media. Serbian authorities said 52 protesters were wounded
Unable to sleep the night before her first-round match at the French Open against second seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine checked her phone at 5am on Sunday and saw disturbing news back home in Kyiv. At least one person was killed when the capital of Kostyuk’s nation was subjected to the largest drone attack by Russia since the start of the war, launched with an invasion assisted by Belarus in February last year. “It’s something I cannot describe, probably. I try to put my emotions aside any time I go out on court. I think I’m better than
China has long been the sleeping giant of men’s tennis, but on Monday the giant stirred as Shanghai trailblazer Zhang Zhizhen advanced to the second round of Roland Garros. One of three Chinese men in the draw, Zhang became the first from the nation to win a main draw match at Roland Garros in 86 years after Serbian opponent Dusan Lajovic retired due to illness when trailing 6-1, 4-1. Compatriots Shang Juncheng and Wu Yibing bowed out in defeat, but 26-year-old Zhang has a big chance to go further when he takes on Argentine qualifier Thiago Agustin Tirante for a place in
Novak Djokovic seemed ready to move on from non-tennis issues at the French Open on Wednesday, while two of the four Taiwanese at the tournament advanced in the women’s doubles, with one due to play last night. Serbia’s Djokovic beat Marton Fucsovics of Hungary 7-6 (7/2), 6-0, 6-3 in the second round of the men’s singles and wrote on the lens of a TV camera — an autograph and a smiley face. It was quite different from what happened after his win on Monday, when Djokovic wrote in Serbian: “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia. Stop the violence.” He spoke about the matter
RSS