Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday saw her 13-0 undefeated start to the season come to an end as she squandered a 6-0, 3-1 lead in a quarter-final defeat to Barbora Krejcikova at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Sabalenka had not lost a match this year going into the clash, winning two titles in Australia last month, including a maiden Grand Slam trophy, but that streak was snapped as Krejcikova scooped a 0-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-1 victory to set up a semi-final clash with American third seed Jessica Pegula.
The 24-year-old Belarusian was to fly home to Miami before heading to Indian Wells, where she hoped to recapture her title-winning form.
Photo: AP
“Probably there will be less attention [now that the streak is over]. It doesn’t matter, I lost it,” Sabalenka said after the defeat. “Barbora deserved it, she played great tennis, and I will just keep working and keep getting better; make sure that Indian Wells will be a better result.”
Many were predicting a Dubai final between the world’s top two, Iga Swiatek and Sabalenka, who has openly declared her ambition to dethrone the Polish world No. 1.
“I really would like to see that happening [playing finals against Swiatek], but first of all I have to work hard and I have to focus on myself,” Sabalenka said. “You cannot predict anything in tennis, especially women’s tennis, but I really want to see that I’ll work really hard to make sure that this is going to happen.”
Krejcikova — a runner-up in Dubai in 2021 — lost the first seven games of the contest and needed 44 minutes before she finally got on the board, holding serve for 1-1 in the second set.
The 2021 French Open champion fell behind 1-3, but clawed her way back, forcing a decider.
Krejcikova kept up the momentum as she broke Sabalenka twice for a 5-1 advantage and she knocked out the world No. 2 in lass than two hours.
It was the Czech’s first win over Sabalenka in three meetings and it earned her a showdown with Pegula, who received a walkover into the final four after her opponent Karolina Muchova withdrew from the tournament with an abdominal injury.
“I was just fighting for every ball. I’m never going to leave a fight in any match that I’m playing, any score that is there. Definitely the Czech fans, they really helped,” Krejcikova said.
Meanwhile, Coco Gauff said she would approach her semi-final against Swiatek with “no pressure,” despite her 0-5 losing record against the world No. 1.
“She’s playing at the top of her game. Well, I don’t know, because last year we said the same thing. She’s playing really well,” said Gauff of Swiatek, who has dropped a mere eight games in her past five matches. “It’s going to be a challenge, but, to be honest, I think it’s a good matchup just to see where I can maybe improve on. There’s no pressure for me.”
At the Merida Open Akron at Yucatan Country Club in Mexico, Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Wang Xinyu of China defeated third seeds Eri Hozumi of Japan and Anastasia Detiuc of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the semi-finals of the doubles.
Taiwan’s participation in the Olympic Games has been a story of politics as much as sports, with the name it has competed under since 1984 — Chinese Taipei — drawing as much attention as its athletes. However, with the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad set to begin in Paris on Friday, the exploits of Taiwan’s athletes past and present who have won 36 medals since the country’s debut in Melbourne in 1956 deserve a nod. Many of Taiwan’s medal winners have gained considerable name recognition, but only two have achieved legendary status — Maysang Kalimud and Chi Cheng, the only medal winners
Shohei Ohtani on Sunday hit a 473-foot (144m) home run as the Los Angeles Dodgers went deep six times in a 9-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, Gavin Lux, Austin Barnes and Jason Heyward also connected as Los Angeles swept the three-game series. “Going into the break, we weren’t playing good baseball, and then to come out fresh against a really good ball club and to play the way we did — the offense came to life,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. It was the 25th time the Dodgers launched at least six homers in a game
Canada women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman on Wednesday said she would step away from the team’s opening game against New Zealand at the Paris Olympics in the wake of a drone scandal. New Zealand complained to the International Olympic Committee’s integrity unit after it said drones were flown over closed practice sessions earlier in the week. As of press time last night, Canada, the defending Olympic champions, were set to open the Paris Games against New Zealand in Saint-Etienne. In the fallout of the complaint, two staff members — assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi — were sent home, the
Conventional wisdom dictates that the average retirement age for elite female players in the intense and physically demanding sport of badminton is well under 30 years old. Five female shuttlers are set to turn that on its head when they make their fourth Olympic appearances at the Paris Games, a feat never accomplished before. Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying, 30, Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, 29, Belgium’s Lianne Tan, 33, and Hong Kong’s Tse Ying Suet and Canada’s Michelle Li, both 32, are to compete for Olympic glory at Porte de La Chapelle Arena from Saturday to Aug. 5. “These achievements get missed because they’re women,” said