Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Poland’s Jan Zielinski on Monday eased into the mixed doubles quarter-finals at the French Open, but face stiff competition in their quest for a second title this year.
The seventh seeds dominated Liudmila Samsonova of Russia and Andrea Vavassori of Italy 6-0, 6-3 in just over 52 minutes on Court 7 at Roland Garros.
Hsieh and Zielinski, who in January took home the Australian Open mixed doubles title, were last night after press time to take on top seeds Ellen Perez and Matthew Ebden. The Australian duo would be fresh in their match as they on Monday earned a walkover following the withdrawal of Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Croatia’s Mate Pavic.
Photo: AFP
Meanwhile, 12th seeds Chan Hao-ching of Taiwan and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia last night crashed out of the third round of the women’s doubles after losing 6-2, 7-5 to Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk.
In Monday’s men’s singles, an injured Novak Djokovic sealed a 15th consecutive quarter-final with a thrilling comeback victory over Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo in the fourth round, while Daniil Medvedev became the highest seed to crash out at Roland Garros so far.
In the women’s draw, both Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina comfortably powered into the last eight.
A limping Djokovic looked to be heading for a shock defeat when 2-1 down in sets and 4-2 behind in the fourth set, but battled back from the brink to delight the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd by winning 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 after 4 hours, 39 minutes.
“I was maybe three or four points away from losing this match,” the reigning champion said. “I’m not sure how I won this match.”
Djokovic narrowly avoided his earliest exit from the tournament since 2009, teeing up a rematch of last year’s final against Casper Ruud, who beat Taylor Fritz in four sets.
However, he said he was not yet 100 percent sure he would be fit enough to play today.
“I don’t know what will happen tomorrow or after tomorrow if I’ll be able to step out on the court and play. I hope so. Let’s see what happens,” he said, before blaming the right knee injury he sustained on unusually slippery courts.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
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