Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday defeated Madison Brengle under lights at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, while Shelby Rogers and Sloane Stephens also advanced from the first round of the women’s singles.
Hsieh resisted a late comeback by Brengle to win 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) in a tiebreak after 1 hour, 23 minutes, firing 22 winners and breaking Brengle’s serve six times.
She faces No. 24 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the second round.
Photo: AFP
Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium are to open their women’s doubles campaign tomorrow Taiwan time against Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska and Amanda Anisimova of the US.
Rogers beat Anhelina Kalinina 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, while Stephens outlasted Heather Watson 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 6-1 in their opening matches.
Rogers and Stephens were joined by fellow American Madison Keys in advancing. Keys beat Kaia Kanepi, 6-0, 7-5.
Stephens won seven of 18 break points. She raced to a 5-0 lead in the third set before Watson held, then served out the win. Watson had seven aces and seven double faults on the hard courts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California.
The main draw of the men’s singles was to begin after press time last night.
Three-time major champion Andy Murray and four-time major champion Kim Clijsters received wild cards into the event.
Emma Raducanu, who won the US Open, and runner-up Leylah Fernandez are also entered.
However, the combined ATP and WTA tournament is missing some of the sport’s biggest names, including men’s No. 1 Novak Djokovic and women’s No. 1 Ash Barty.
Also out on men’s side are Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, while the women’s draw is missing Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams.
Second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka said she that tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in the desert and is in isolation.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS