Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles.
Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week.
Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US.
Photo courtesy of Wu Fang-hsien
Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched their run of unbeaten matches to start the year to eight.
The Taiwanese-Chinese duo started the match strong, breaking their opponent’s serve three times and winning six games in a row in the first set.
The second set was much closer, with both sides breaking early and a tiebreaker needed to separate them.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Wu and Jiang fell behind 1-3 in the tiebreaker, but stormed back to lead 6-4. Although they missed out on two match points, they won the next two points to claim the WTA250 title.
Wu is changing partners for the Australian Open, which begins today with the men’s and women’s singles.
The Taiwanese is to partner with Anna Blinkova of Russia on Tuesday, when they are to play Clara Tauson of Denmark and the UK’s Jodie Anna Burrage in the first round.
Photo: AP
Other Taiwanese scheduled to play on Tuesday in the women’s doubles at the year’s first Grand Slam are: Tsao Chia-yi with partner Veronika Kudermetova of Russia, Chan Hao-ching and partner Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine and Hsieh Su-wei alongside Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko.
Tsao and Kudermetova face Thaland’s Peangtarn Plipuech and American-Japanese Ena Shibahara; Chan and Kichenok are to play Russian Anastasia Potapova and Olga Danilovic of Serbia; and Hsieh and Ostapenko were drawn against Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia and the UK’s Olivia Nicholls.
Meanwhile, Kessler heads into the Australian Open with a second WTA title under her belt after scoring a 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 victory over Elise Mertens of Belgium.
The American, who faces China’s Zhang Shuai in the first round at Melbourne Park, racked up 44 winners against Mertens, who was chasing a third title in Hobart after triumphs in 2017 and 2018, as well as a runners-up finish last year.
At the Memorial Drive Tennis Centre in Adelaide, Madison Keys of the US beat compatriot Jessica Pegula 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in the women’s singles final.
AUCKLAND CLASSIC
AP, AUCKLAND, New Zealand
French veteran Gael Monfils yesterday became the oldest player to win an ATP Tour title after beating Zizou Bergs 6-3, 6-4 at the Auckland Classic.
Monfils claimed his 13th tour title 20 years after his first. At the age of 38 years, 132 days, he took over from Roger Federer, who was 38 years, 74 days old when he won the final tour title of his career, the Swiss Indoor title at Basel in 2019.
Prior to the start of the Auckland tournament, Monfils spoke about how his love of tennis kept him going.
“I love tennis. I love what I’m doing so of course all the sacrifices you do, they are a little bit easier. When you love something, it’s easier to keep pushing,” he said. “I’ve been enjoying myself since the first day I played tennis and [at] 60 years old, I will still have this joy. Practice, it’s easy. It’s in the DNA. Stay in shape, it’s easy. It’s more the travel.”
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka yesterday got her season off to a winning start for Japan in the United Cup, after the UK’s Emma Raducanu pulled out of their singles clash with a fitness issue, while in Brisbane, Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Wu Fang-hsien crashed out of the women’s doubles. In Perth, despite Osaka’s win, the UK took the match 2-1 with a deciding mixed doubles victory. Osaka was too strong for reserve and 276th-ranked Katie Swan, winning 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 as Raducanu watched from the sidelines. “I’m proud of how I fought,” Osaka said. “I’d never played here, it was tough.” Britain
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