Caroline Wozniacki was the only player among the top five seeded women to reach the second round at the Generali Ladies in Linz, Austria, rallying to beat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 on Wednesday.
Third seed Roberta Vinci of Italy lost her first-round match against Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-1, 6-7 (3/7), 6-1.
Top seed Lucie Safarova and fourth seed Andrea Petkovic both lost on Tuesday, while fifth seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova withdrew because of illness.
Sixth seed Camila Giorgi joined the exodus later on Wednesday in the second round as the Italian, who reached the final in Linz last year, was beaten by Margarita Gasparyan of Russia 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
In the other second-round matches, Madison Brengle of the US missed six match points before beating Johanna Konta of Britain 6-3, 7-5.
In her fourth quarter-final of the season, Brengle is to take on Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany, who defeated Andreea Mitu of Romania 7-5, 6-3.
World No. 11 Wozniacki, who is seeded second, went up 2-0 in the opening set, but won only two points in the next five games against Lucic-Baroni. She missed a set point at 5-4 in the second set, but turned the match around in the tiebreaker.
Wozniacki next faces Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens for a place in the quarter-finals.
Krunic, who hit six aces, lost her opening service game against Vinci, but took 10 of the next 12 games for a 6-1, 4-2 lead.
The US Open finalist broke back and converted her first set point in the tiebreaker, but she did not recover from going 5-0 down in the final set.
World No. 99 Krunic improved to 3-0 against Vinci after also beating the Italian at Wimbledon and in Bucharest this year.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two
RSS