Wu Tung-lin made history on Sunday when he won the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger men’s singles final in Florida, becoming the first Taiwanese winner in the tournament’s 22 years.
Wu dominated Michael Mmoh of the US 6-3, 6-4 in their first professional matchup.
The Taiwanese said his fans at the Forest Meadows Tennis Complex powered him on to victory.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I’m happy to do it here, with Taiwanese fans,” Wu said. “I heard the support from them and it gave me a lot of energy.”
Wu got off to a good 3-0 start over Mmoh, and maintained the lead to close the opening set 6-3.
The two players traded early breaks in the second set, but Wu jumped ahead 2-1 and never looked back, finishing out the set 6-4 on his second match point.
Photo courtesy of Wu Tung-lin
The trophy helped the 23-year-old move up 66 places in the ATP rankings to No. 221.
It was Wu’s first title on the ATP Challenger Tour, the second-highest tier of men’s international tennis competition.
PORSCHE GRAND PRIX
AFP, STUTTGART, Germany
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek on Sunday won her fourth consecutive WTA title this year as she swept aside Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets to claim the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix final in Stuttgart.
The 20-year-old Swiatek broke Sabalenka’s serve twice in the opening set, then greeted every point won with a clenched fist of celebration to seal a 6-2, 6-2 win.
“It was a tough match. We fought for every game. Hopefully, there will be many more to come,” Swiatek said.
She thanked her team for helping her recover in the short time between her semi-final win over Liudmila Samsonova, which lasted more than three hours.
“Thank you for giving me life again,” she said. “The atmosphere was amazing and it was great to see all the Polish flags. It’s such a huge support for us.”
SERBIA OPEN
Reuters
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic’s barren title spell continued on Sunday as he went down 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-0 to Russian Andrey Rublev in the final of the Serbia Open in Belgrade.
Playing his second tournament on clay this season after being ousted by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Monte Carlo, Djokovic was off to a slow start as second seed Rublev broke him twice to win the opening set 6-2.
Djokovic, cheered on by a capacity home crowd, raised his game in the second set to take the tie breaker, despite earlier squandering five set points.
Rublev galloped to an early lead and closed out the match with a powerful forehand winner for his first win over Djokovic.
“It was unfortunate that in the third set I really ran out of gas,” Djokovic told reporters. “I couldn’t deliver more of a fight, but congratulations to Andrey on another great week.”
BARCELONA OPEN
AFP, BARCELONA
Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday defeated fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-2 in the Barcelona Open final.
The 18-year-old Alcaraz saw off Carreno Busta in a swift 65 minutes.
“It means a lot,” Alcaraz said. “I’ve watched this tournament since I was a kid. I always wished to play in this tournament and of course to be able to win this tournament.”
The world No. 11 yesterday rose to No. 9, making him the youngest player to break into the top 10 since Rafael Nadal did it 17 years ago, also after the Barcelona Open.
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
RIVALRY: Carlos Alcaraz lost his previous two matches against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, in the Australian Open quarter-finals this year and Paris Olympics final last year Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday dazzled at the US Open to make the semi-finals before Novak Djokovic of Serbia danced his way through to book a New York showdown with the Spaniard that would mark the latest chapter in their generational rivalry. Former champion Alcaraz produced yet another entertaining display at Flushing Meadows to dismantle 20th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at a sunbathed Arthur Ashe Stadium, securing his place in the last four without dropping a set this year. “Sometimes I play a shot that I should not play in that moment, but it’s the way I love
Spain are in danger of not getting out of EuroBasket Group C after losing 67-63 to Italy on Tuesday, but the defending champions still control their destiny. Marco Spissu put Italy in front for good at 64-63 with two free throws with 31 seconds left and made two more with 14 seconds remaining. Giampaolo Ricci converted one of two free throws with eight seconds on the clock. Spain, which in 2022 won their fourth title, are tied with Georgia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 2-2 each. Greece and Italy have clinched two of the group’s four spots in the round-of-16,
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