Taiwan’s Chan sisters on Sunday survived a scare to advance to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Miami Open, while Venus Williams saved three match points to rally past Kiki Bertens in the third round of the women’s singles.
Second seeds Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan rallied after a disappointing second set to defeat Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine and Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-3, 1-6, 10-7 in 1 hour, 17 minutes.
The Taiwanese duo saved five of 10 break points and converted four of eight to advance to a quarter-final against Czech sixth seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, who defeated Spanish pairing Lara Arruabarrena and Arantxa Parra Santonja 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 10-7.
Photo: Screen grab from Facebook
In the women’s singles, Williams slammed a forehand winner on the final point to win a seesaw marathon and she had enough energy left to spin in delight at the net, a triumphant fist leading the way.
Twenty-one years after her Key Biscayne debut, wins at the Miami Open remain something to celebrate.
Williams squandered an early lead, fell behind late and then overcame three match points to rally past Kiki Bertens 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 in the third round.
She blew a 5-0 lead in the first set and was down 5-3 in the third, but swept the final four games, holding serve at love for the victory.
“It didn’t look good sometimes, but that’s why you keep playing until the last point and that’s why I love this game” Williams told the crowd.
The match took nearly three hours on the hottest day of the tournament so far and the 37-year-old would have to recover quickly to take on defending champion Johanna Konta.
The 11th seed Konta advanced with much less drama, beating 22nd seed Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-1.
In the men’s singles, fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro extended his winning streak to 13 matches by eliminating 26th seed Kei Nishikori 6-2, 6-2.
Del Potro won his first ATP Masters 1000 title last week in Indian Wells, California.
Second seed Marin Cilic swept Vasek Pospisil 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) and third seed Grigor Dimitrov lost to Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-4.
Williams regrouped after a disastrous opening set, which she was four times a single point from winning.
In the final set she erased two match points at 5-3 and another in the next game.
Williams, who lives in South Florida and has long been a favorite with Key Biscayne fans, said they kept her going.
“I felt everybody behind me. My opponent played well. I had a lot of chances; she had a lot of chances. I hope it was really entertaining for you all,” Williams told the crowd. “I love it here. This was my first big win. I have a lot of great memories. I hope I can get another win this year. You never know.”
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS