South Korean 10th seed Kim Mi-hyun reached the semi-finals of the US$2 million Women's World Match Play Championship on Saturday with a 1-up victory over compatriot Lee Jee-young.
Kim was just one of two players within the top 12 that made it to the quarter-finals in the upset-strewn tournament at Wykagyl Country Club.
Among the top players knocked out between Thursday and Friday were world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa, third seed Annika Sorenstam, No. 5 Pak Se-ri, eighth seed Paula Creamer and No. 13 Brittany Lincicome, the defending champion.
But Kim, winner of the the SemGroup Championship in May, was able to buck the upset trend to set up a match with 22nd-seeded compatriot Lee Seon-hwa.
The 18-hole final was to follow the semi-finals yesterday.
Kim had been even with Lee Jee-young until a birdie on the 219-yard par-3 13th. She added another hole on the 16th before Lee birdied No. 17 and the two players halved the final hole.
Kim credited a change in her swing with the improved play.
Lee Seon-hwa advanced with a 3 and 2 win over Australian Lindsey Wright, who upset Sorenstam in the second round on Friday.
Earlier on Saturday, Lee Seon-hwa ousted England's Laura Davies 2 and 1 in the third round to book her quarter-final berth.
On the other side of the draw, local favorite Meaghan Francella had her run ended with a 4 and 3 loss to Maria Hjorth of Sweden.
Francella, a native of nearby Port Chester and the 33rd seed, had shocked top-seeded Ochoa in the second round.
It was the second straight time that the 25-year-old upset the world No. 1 in this event, toppling Sorenstam in the semi-finals at Mexico last year.
"I can't believe how many people came out," Francella said. "A lot of people came to Sybase when it was here, but I mean, never this many people. It just goes to show you how much support Port Chester has given me. It's just been incredible."
"I've seen people I haven't seen in years this week. I'm just thankful for the support I have, and my parents were out this week, which is great," she said.
Hjorth, who dispatched Creamer in the second round, took a decisive four-hole advantage in the match with a birdie at the par-3 10th.
The next opponent for Hjorth is 12th seed Ai Miyazato. The Japanese player reached the round of four with a victory over No. 61 Amy Hung, 1-up.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
BELGIANS ADVANCE: Club Brugge gave Atalanta a lesson in efficiency, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s team had 29 efforts at goal, compared with seven from the visitors Seldom has a player’s sending off had such an influence on a game. AC Milan was to left rue Theo Hernandez’s second yellow card — for diving — as Feyenoord advanced to the UEFA Champions League last 16 at the former European champion’s expense with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff on Tuesday, giving the Dutch team a 2-1 win on aggregate. Bayern Munich, Club Brugge and Benfica also won their playoffs, eliminating Celtic, UEFA Europa League winner Atalanta BC and French team AS Monaco respectively. “In soccer everything changes in a second,” said Milan forward
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
RSS