Former world No. 1s Venus Williams and Ana Ivanovic endured a humbling start to the season after the top two seeds were dumped out of the Auckland Classic in the first round by unheralded opponents yesterday.
Russian teenager Daria Kasatkina, ranked 75th in the world, claimed arguably the biggest win of her career in taking out the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Williams 7-6 (4/7), 3-6, 6-3 in the Australian Open warmup event.
Williams, 35, made more than 70 unforced errors in the scratchy display where she won the title last year to start a standout season that saw her claim the WTA’s Comeback of the Year award after two other tournament wins in China.
Former French Open champion Ivanovic had little answer to the supreme serving of British qualifier Naomi Broady, who racked up 14 aces in a 7-5, 6-4 win.
The 25-year-old from Manchester maintained her first serve percentage at almost 70 as she took out the second seeded Serb to leave the US$250,000 tournament shorn of its headline acts.
Dane Caroline Wozniacki was not at her best on the blue New Zealand hard courts, but avoided making it a hat-trick of first-round exits by former world No. 1s as she beat Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-4 6-4.
SHENZHEN OPEN
AFP, BEIJING
Double Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova went out of the WTA Shenzhen Open in the first round yesterday, retiring hurt in a shock exit for the world No. 6.
The second seed was broken twice as she lost the first set 6-2 against China’s Zheng Saisai — ranked 72 in the world — in 41 minutes, and dropped out before a point was played in the second set.
It was Kvitova’s second consecutive first-round exit in China, after she went out at the first hurdle at the China Open in October — when she played on painkillers while suffering the ongoing effects of glandular fever.
Another unseeded home player also dumped out a higher-ranked player at the US$500,000 tournament, with Britain’s Johanna Konta losing to Wang Qiang.
The fifth seed took the first set against Wang, but eventually went out 6-3, 3-6, 3-6 in 1 hour, 50 minutes.
There were no such problems for the Polish top seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the world No. 5 who won the WTA Finals in Singapore in November last year. She brushed aside Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic 6-4, 6-3, in little more than an hour.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS