Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday swatted aside Serbian Dusan Lajovic 6-0, 7-6 (7/5) to keep his title defense on track at the Miami Open, as Canada’s Bianca Andreescu cruised past the US’ Sofia Kenin in straight sets.
Spain’s teen phenom won Indian Wells to retake the top ranking last week, and kept the momentum going at Hard Rock Stadium as he fired off 26 winners to set up a fourth-round meeting with Australian Open semi-finalist Tommy Paul.
“I always think that you have to go for it,” he told the Tennis Channel. “That’s what I told myself in [those] tough moments.”
Photo: AFP
Lajovic stunned three-times Grand Slam winner Andy Murray in the first round, but never hit his stride on Sunday, letting his only break point chance slip through his fingers in the first set as the US Open winner put on a near-flawless performance.
Alcaraz converted on a break point in the third game of the second set with an expertly placed forehand winner.
However, he helped Lajovic to a break in the 10th game with a handful of uncharacteristic errors.
Lajovic refused to go down without a fight, fending off three match points in the tiebreak, but Alcaraz never lost his nerve and clinched it with a blistering backhand winner before pumping his fist triumphantly.
“Everything was under control,” said Alcaraz, who greeted the Miami Heat’s six-time NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler courtside after the match.
“But end of match is never easy,” he said. “The nerves came out. I made a few mistakes that I didn’t do around the whole match. So it was tough to win.”
Former US Open champion Andreescu harnessed her mighty serve to topple Kenin 6-4, 6-4, sending over seven aces as the 2020 Australian Open winner failed to mount much of a defense after an early exit from Indian Wells.
The swift affair was welcome reprieve for Andreescu after lengthy battles against first and second-round opponents Emma Raducanu and world nMaria Sakkari, with Ekaterina Alexandrova waiting in the round of 16.
“I definitely enjoy the challenge,” she said in a televised interview. “These victories are definitely very sweet, and I’ve had many tough matches against Sofia.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite