World No. 1 Novak Djokovic yesterday cruised into the Japan Open final, thrashing David Goffin 6-3, 6-4.
Djokovic faces Australian qualifier John Millman in the final after he squeezed past American Reilly Opelka 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).
The Serbian star dominated his semi-final, starting strong by winning the first three games and picking up an early break while fending off fierce attempts by the Belgian to fight back.
Photo: AFP
Djokovic again picked up an early break in the second set and survived all four break points he faced.
He won points on 87 percent of his successful first serves and never committed a double fault in the roughly 90-minute contest.
Goffin fought bravely, but Djokovic kept up the pressure with deep shots and quick footwork to fend off any threat.
Photo: AP
“I trained with ninjas before this tournament,” Djokovic quipped, when asked about his apparent omnipresence on the court during a post-match interview in front of cheering fans.
“This has been a wonderful week for me on and off the court,” Djokovic said.
“Hopefully I will be able to crown this week with a trophy tomorrow [today],” he said.
CHINA OPEN
Ashleigh Barty is to play Caroline Wozniacki or Naomi Osaka in the China Open final today after the world No. 1 squeezed through in three tense sets against Kiki Bertens yesterday.
The Australian committed 52 unforced errors, but still just about emerged victorious, saving match point in a nervy 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory in Beijing.
The 23-year-old Barty looked all set to rush into the final and dominated the first set against a shell-shocked Bertens, but the 27-year-old Dutchwoman struck back to win the second set of their semi-final by the same 6-3 scoreline and take the match to a decider.
They went with serve until the fifth game of the third set, when Bertens, ranked eighth in the world, profited from another Barty error to go a break up.
However, Bertens lost her nerve when serving for the match, the momentum swinging back in Barty’s favor. Barty went down 3-1 in the tiebreak, but overcame the deficit to seal victory.
Defending champion Wozniacki beat Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in the quarter-finals on Friday and played Naomi Osaka yesterday, with the semi-final ongoing as of press time last night.
Osaka advanced after ousting Bianca Andreescu 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
In the men’s draw, Dominic Thiem faces either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Alexander Zverev in today’s final after defeating Karen Khachanov 2-6, 7-6 (9/7), 7-5 in their semi-final yesterday.
The Tsitsipas-Zverev semi was to begin after press time last night.
Andy Murray’s run ended after the former No. 1 lost to Thiem 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS