James Blake rehabilitated his clay court game on Tuesday as the French Open countdown began, sending the US into a 1-0 led over Argentina at the ARAG World Team Cup.
Sweden secured an unbeatable 2-0 scoreline over the Czech Republic through Robin Soderling and Thomas Johansson.
Soderling began the day as he beat Tomas Berdych 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 while the veteran Johansson ended it 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) to hold off a fightback from Michal Tabara.
PHOTO: AP
Yesterday’s doubles would be for pride with the Red group tie now decided.
World number eight Blake recovered nicely after losing his opening singles this week against Berdych to come good on his second opportunity at the eight-nation event.
His defeat of demoralized Guillermo Canas 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 paved the way for substitute teammate Wayne Odesnik to hopefully seize control of the tie when he faced Juan Chela later.
“I felt pretty confident to beat a guy like Canas, who makes you work hard on every single point,” Blake said. “Today I played some of my best tennis.”
“I was patient when I needed to be and went for the shots, kept the pressure on him. I had to earn almost every point out there,” he said.
Blake went through on his after saving a pair of break points in the last game which left Canas flinging his racket to the clay in despair after just over 90 minutes.
Philipp Kohlschreiber put host Germany into control with a win over Italy’s Potito Starace 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), coming from 1-5 down in the second set.
“I just wanted it too much and made a lot of mistakes and took a lot of bad decisions,” the national No. 1 said. “I got frustrated but then forgot and things got better.
“I’ve beaten a good play player. We won the first tie in our group and that whets the appetite,” he said.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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