Croatia’s Petra Martic and top seed Karolina Pliskova yesterday marched into the final of the inaugural Zhengzhou Open with commanding straight sets victories.
Seventh seed Martic dispatched Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic 6-0, 6-3 in 67 minutes to reach her first premier showpiece, sealing victory with her third ace of the match.
Mladenovic had a mounting error count and six double faults, while Martic, who faced only one break point, broke her unseeded opponent four times, helping her win seven games in a row.
Photo: AFP
Czech Pliskova dominated her semi-final as she beat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 6-2 in 68 minutes.
It was her third victory of the year over the Australian after wins in Brisbane and Rome.
World No. 2 Pliskova won 93 percent of her first serve points and broke four times en route to her fifth final of the season.
Despite three consecutive double faults in the second set, her superior counterpunching was also on display as she hit 28 winners, while Tomljanovic made 13 unforced errors.
Pliskova is to seek her first title in China today after finishing as runner-up in Zhuhai in 2015 and Tianjin last year.
Japan Women’s Open
Reuters
Japan’s Misaki Doi yesterday upset Russian second seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 6-3 to set up a final with compatriot and doubles partner Nao Hibino at the Hana-cupid Japan Women’s Open in Hiroshima.
It is to be the first all-Japanese WTA Tour final in 22 years after Naoko Sawamatsu beat Yuka Yoshida in Jakarta in 1997.
Doi and Hibino are also in today’s doubles final, where they are to face Russian Valeria Savinykh and American Christina McHale.
Although Kudermetova fired down nine aces, Doi kept up with the powerful Russian, who is ranked 59 places higher at world No. 48, and broke three times in the 82-minute contest.
Doi broke early in the second set to take a 3-0 lead and although Kudermetova broke back to make it 3-2, the Japanese reclaimed a break advantage before serving out for the match.
In the day’s earlier semi-final, Hibino recovered from a set down to beat Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.
Hibino, ranked No. 146 in the world, was broken twice in the opening set to hand Buzarnescu the advantage, but stormed back in the second with nine winners.
Buzarnescu struggled on serve and faced 14 break points, with the 24-year-old Hibino converting six to move into the final after 2 hours, 10 minutes.
Doi and Hibino have beaten each other twice in their careers and both are seeking their second career WTA singles title.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the