Second seed Caroline Garcia yesterday cruised past Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei 6-3, 6-4 in the Tianjin Open final four to move into her first final since lifting back-to-back titles in Wuhan and Beijing last year.
In the other semi-final, top seed Karolina Pliskova produced a ruthless display as she raced past Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky 6-2, 6-1.
Pliskova, who won the Pan Pacific Open last month, dropped just eight points on serve and broke Bacsinszky four times.
Photo: AFP
World No. 6 Pliskova, eighth in the Race to Singapore standings, is battling for one of the three spots in the season-ending WTA Finals starting on Sunday next week.
The 26-year-old Czech would improve her chances by claiming her third title of the season today.
“I know I have a good chance to get to Singapore between this week and next week as well,” former world No. 1 Pliskova said. “I think it was a pretty okay year for me and if I end it in Singapore it’s going to be amazing for me.”
HONG KONG OPEN
AFP, HONG KONG
Chinese No. 1 Wang Qiang yesterday wrapped up the biggest win of her season, after an overnight rain delay forced her to wait to claim victory over world No. 5 Elina Svitolina at the Hong Kong Open, then later defeated former world No. 1 Garbine Muguruza 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 7-5 to book a place in the final.
She needed just 10 minutes on court to end the Ukrainian’s resistance, sealing the 6-2, 6-4 quarter-final win with an ace.
The Rome champion, who had been hoping to sew up qualification in Hong Kong for the WTA Finals, said that she was “fighter” and had come back on court believing he still had a chance.
“But in the end, [Wang] had the advantage. She had the confidence, definitely,” Svitolina said.
World No. 24 Wang grabbed headlines at the French Open with her straight-sets demolition of Venus Williams, offering a hint of what was to come, and later overcame Pliskova in Beijing and Wuhan.
China’s No. 2 Zhang Shuai will not feature in the singles today after she was dumped out by teenage Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska, who powered to a 7-5, 6-4 victory to reach her first WTA Tour final.
The 18-year-old appeared overwhelmed after the win, lying on her back in Centre Court to soak up the cheers.
“I was nervous from the first ball,” she said. “After match point I fell on the floor because I felt so relaxed, that was my instinct to go and lie because I needed to put it away, the emotions.
SHANGHAI MASTERS
Reuters
Novak Djokovic yesterday stormed past German Alexander Zverev 6-2, 6-1 to reach the Shanghai Masters final and claim the world No. 2 ranking from Roger Federer.
Second seed Djokovic, who could play the Swiss in today’s showpiece, did not face a break point en route to a 59-minute victory, as he extended his winning streak to 17 ATP matches.
“I did everything I intended to do on my end,” the 31-year-old Serb said. “It’s all working and it’s been a couple of perfect matches. There’s a lot of positives to take from my matches this week.”
Djokovic knows a fourth Shanghai title would help him trim Rafa Nadal’s lead at the top of the rankings, with the Spaniard skipping the Asian swing to recover from a knee injury.
Djokovic is to play either top seed Federer or Croatian Borna Coric in the final.
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
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