Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching on Friday advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles at the Rothesay Open in Nottingham, England, while her sister Latisha Chan crashed out of the tournament.
Chan Hao-ching and Shuko Aoyama of Japan took 1 hour, 36 minutes to beat Katarzyna Kawa of Poland and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 11-9 in their quarter-final clash on grass.
They were yesterday to face Beatrice Haddad Maia of Brazil and Shuai Zhang of China, who earlier defeated Latisha Chan and partner Samantha Stosur of Australia.
Photo: AP
The Brazilian-Chinese duo beat Latisha Chan and Stosur 6-1, 6-7 (6/8), 10-6 in 1 hour, 32 minutes.
In ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, Daniil Medvedev defeated Ilya Ivashka in a battle of banned Wimbledon players to reach the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships semi-finals and move closer to regaining the world top ranking.
The top-seeded Russian downed his 41st-ranked Belarusian rival 7-6 (10/8), 6-4 in 1 hour, 51 minutes at the Wimbledon warm-up event.
Medvedev is tomorrow to reclaim the world No. 1 ranking from Novak Djokovic for the first time since March.
Medvedev and Ivaskha, as well as a host of other Russian and Belarusian players, have been banned from Wimbledon following the invasion of Ukraine.
“I don’t have many points to defend on grass and I have some to win, so hopefully I can play well, starting here,” Medvedev said.
“Every round is points and the higher you get, the more you need to step up,” he said.
In Germany, Andy Murray upset top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 for a place in the Stuttgart Open men’s semi-finals as the former world No. 1 claimed his first top five win since 2016.
The 35-year-old Murray said the strong winds, which featured in his first two wins this week, were missing as he put on a top serving performance to defeat world No. 5 Tsitsipas, who won their only previous match at the US Open last year.
“It was much easier to play today ... with very little wind, I did well, I was consistent for the whole match. This was my best serving performance of the week,” Murray said.
Murray last reached an ATP semi-final in January in Sydney on his way to the final.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Forget Real Madrid, Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain, the world’s best soccer team — statistically speaking — might be a little-known outfit from the closed central Asian nation of Turkmenistan. Founded last year, Arkadag, named in honor of former Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, have been unstoppable, notching up 36 consecutive domestic victories in a run still ongoing. The side have not lost a single competitive match and swept to a league and cup double in their inaugural season — success unthinkable almost anywhere else. However, in Turkmenistan, it could hardly have gone any other way. The energy-rich country is one of the most closed
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping