Novak Djokovic continued his scintillating run of form yesterday as he breezed past Croatian Borna Coric 6-3, 6-4 to win the Shanghai Masters title for the fourth time.
With a clever mix of groundstrokes, the 31-year-old Serb broke Coric’s serve in the sixth game and made a series of forays to the net as he consolidated his lead.
Djokovic grabbed the opening set with a hold to love, having dropped just four points on his serve overall.
Photo: AFP
Coric, who collected one of the biggest wins of his career by defeating Roger Federer in the semi-finals, looked far from his best as he dropped his serve in the opening game of the second set.
Coric saved three match points to hold serve in the ninth game, but then Djokovic served out to clinch his fourth title of the season.
HONG KONG OPEN
AP, HONG KONG
Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska won her maiden WTA title yesterday by upsetting sixth-seeded Wang Qiang of China 6-2, 6-1 in 65 minutes at the Hong Kong Open. The 18-year-old was playing in her first career WTA final.
Yastremska is the sixth teenager to advance to a WTA final this year and the second to win a title.
Prior to arriving in Hong Kong, Yastermska’s best result was reaching the Istanbul quarter-finals last year.
The victory, in which she posted 33 winners to 21 unforced errors, will move the 102nd-ranked Yastremska to a new career high ranking in the top 80 when the next rankings are released today.
Yastremska’s win prevented the 24th-ranked Wang from winning her third career title.
Wang, who was playing in her fifth consecutive semi-final, will move up to a career-high No. 23 ranking despite not lifting the title.
TIANJIN OPEN
AFP, BEIJING
Caroline Garcia won her first title of the year yesterday as the French player defeated Karolina Pliskova to edge a nervy Tianjin Open final.
The 16th-ranked Garcia battled through a narrow first set before streaking away in the second to beat the Czech top seed 7-6 (9/7), 6-3.
The 24-year-old Garcia — seeded second in Tianjin — enjoyed a breakthrough season, winning back-to-back titles in Wuhan and Beijing, and qualifying for the season-ending WTA Finals.
She has struggled this year, with her China Open defense in Beijing coming to a meek end in the last 16 as she lost the deciding set 6-0 to Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.
The Tianjin title is the sixth of Garcia’s career.
‘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
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
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
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
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