World No. 1 Justine Henin was pleased with her convincing performance to reach the third round here at the German Open with a straight sets win over Chan Yung-jan in just under an hour.
On her last WTA appearance, Henin was hammered 6-2, 6-0 by Serena Williams in the quarter-finals of the Miami tournament last month which she admits dented her confidence, but she looked very sharp in Berlin.
The Belgian needed just 58 minutes and 50 seconds to see off Chan, 93rd in the world, from Taiwan and after white-washing her opponent 6-0 in the first set, she had few problems to take the second 6-2.
PHOTO: AP
“It was pretty quick and I was pleased to get a good win,” Henin said.
“It has almost been one year since I last played on clay and I want to keep that kind of intensity for the rest of the week,” she said. “I had a break after Miami and I felt pretty good out there.”
The 25-year-old Henin will now meet 13th seeded Russian Dinara Safina for a place in the last 16 and is on course to meet Williams in the quarter-finals.
All four of the top seeds safely made it into the third round on Wednesday.
Last year’s defeated finalist, and this year’s third seed, Svetlana Kuznetsova sealed a 6-3, 6-2 win over Colombia’s Catalina Castano and plays 15th seed Alona Bondarenko in the third round.
Earlier, defending champion Ana Ivanovic admitted she would love to break Williams’ winning streak if the pair meet in the Berlin final.
Ivanovic made the third round with a straight sets win over lucky loser Akgul Amanmuradova, but the world number two is on the opposite side of the draw to both Williams and Henin. Ivanovic, 20, faces Austria’s Sybille Bammer in the third round, while Williams will play Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska to set up a possible quarter-final clash with Henin.
Former world No. 1 Williams picked up her sixteenth consecutive win on Tuesday and Ivanoic says she would love to be the one to stop Williams.
“For sure, Serena is playing really well, she is on top of her game and 100 percent fit,” said Ivanovic. “I didn’t see her game on Tuesday, but I would love to play her.”
Tallon Griekspoor on Friday stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in the second round at Indian Wells, avenging a devastating loss to the German at Roland Garros last year. Zverev, the world No. 2 who is heading the field of the prestigious ATP Masters event with No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month drugs ban, is the first Indian Wells men’s top seed to lose his opening match since Andy Murray in 2017. It was a cherished win for Griekspoor, who had lost five straight matches — including four last year — to the German. That included a five-setter
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Manchester United on Thursday settled for a 1-1 draw with Real Sociedad in the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 tie. United led on Joshua Zirkzee’s goal in the 58th minute, but the hosts equalized 12 minutes later after Bruno Fernandes’ hand ball and Mikel Oyarzabal sent Andre Onana the wrong way from the penalty spot. The Europa League could be a way for United to finish the season with a trophy after crashing out of the FA Cup on Sunday. A spot in the quarter-finals is to be on the line at Old Trafford in the second leg on Thursday next
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
RSS