Iga Swiatek blazed into the Korea Open final after bad weather forced her to play two matches yesterday, winning both in a combined time of two-and-a-half hours.
The Polish six-time Grand Slam champion thrashed the Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova 6-0, 6-3 in a quarter-final moved from Friday because of heavy rain, then returned to the court hours later to face Australia’s Maya Joint.
World number two Swiatek was just as clinical against her semi-final opponent, winning 6-0, 6-2 to move into her fifth final of the year.
Photo: Reuters
She is next to face Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova after the Russian beat the Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova in their semi-final 6-4, 6-2 yesterday.
“I just focused on myself and on the goals that I had before and continued doing what I was doing throughout the whole tournament, because it’s been working,” Swiatek said.
Swiatek came into the Seoul tournament on the back of a stunning quarter-final defeat to eventual finalist Amanda Anisimova at the US Open.
Swiatek, whose father Tomasz competed in rowing at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, dispatched Krejcikova in 1 hour, 25 minutes.
She had an even shorter evening’s work against Joint, winning in 1 hour, 6 minutes.
Swiatek was all business from start to finish against Joint, clinching the match with an easy winner at the net.
All four quarter-finals were pushed back a day from Friday, as bad weather continued to affect the tournament, which has been hit with delays all week.
Captain Vijay Kumar led the way yesterday as the Hsinchu Titans claimed the Taiwan Premier League title at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), beating PCCT by 27 runs. The weather was a topic again, but not the rain that played a role in previous matches in the often-delayed tournament. Kumar, who made 80 not out from 63 deliveries, and teammate Vishwajit Kumar (58 from 43) rescued the Titans from a precarious state at the end of the power play in the T20 match. The visitors were put in to bat and struggled to 26-3 as PCCT
San Francisco Giants pitcher Teng Kai-wei impressed against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday despite an 8-1 loss in the opener of the team’s nine-game road trip. Teng, the only Taiwanese pitcher active in MLB, struck out five while allowing two hits and one walk over four innings at Chase Field to finish with a no decision, as the teams were tied 1-1 when he finished his outing. He surrendered the lone run of his outing in the bottom of the first, which began with a walk, a hit-by-pitch and two strikeouts. Diamondbacks leadoff hitter Geraldo Perdomo advanced to third on
New Zealand yesterday basked in “amazing” athletics glory after winning two gold medals in as many days at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Geordie Beamish on Monday claimed New Zealand’s first track gold in history with a shock victory in the 3,000m steeplechase, while high jumper Hamish Kerr followed with gold on Tuesday to make it an unprecedented double success for a country much better known for rugby than its prowess in track and field. Before this week, the country had won only six golds in total at the championships. Yesterday morning New Zealand were in the giddy position of fourth on
PHOTO FINISH: The finish was closer than at the 2001 championships in Canada, when Ethiopian Gezahegne Abera edged Kenyan Simon Biwott by a single second Alphonce Felix Simbu yesterday snatched gold in the first photo finish at a major championship marathon, edging out German Amanal Petros in a dramatic race to the line to give Tanzania its maiden world title. The photo finish showed the 42.195km race was decided by three hundredths of a second as Simbu surged past the diving Petros at the line, closer than the 0.05-second gap between the gold and silver medalists in the men’s 100m final on Sunday. Simbu and Petros were given the same time of 2 hours, 9 minutes and 48 seconds, the German taking the silver despite