Top-seeded Elena Dementieva beat Taiwan＊s Chan Yung-jan (轙褆窴) 7-5, 6-3 yesterday to progress to the second round of the ASB Classic women＊s tennis tournament.
The Russian player, ranked fourth in the world, struggled in the first set but settled into her game in the second, beating the unseeded Chan in one hour, 32 minutes.
※She was on fire at the beginning and put a lot of pressure on me,§ Dementieva said. ※I didn＊t expect such a high level and it took me a while to get into the game.§
PHOTO: AFP
Second-seeded Caroline Wozniaki of Denmark needed only 56 minutes to beat Alberta Brianti of Italy 6-1, 6-0.
Eighth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain also had an easy passage to the second round, beating Nathalie Dechy of France 6-4, 6-0, while seventh-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Kristina Barrois of Germany 6-3, 6-1.
The success of the seeded players followed wins on Monday by No. 3 Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, No. 4 Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada, No. 5 Shahar Peer of Israel and No. 6 Nicole Vaidisova of Czech Republic.
﹥HOPMAN CUP
AFP, PERTH, Australia
France＊s chances of claiming a maiden Hopman Cup win suffered a major setback yesterday when they were upset 2-1 by Italy in the mixed teams tournament.
The loss means the French pairing of Alize Cornet and Gilles Simon need to beat second-seeded Russian siblings Marat Safin and Dinara Safina to have any chance of reaching Friday＊s final.
The Italian team of Flavia Pennetta and Simone Bolelli, beaten on Sunday by the Russians, also remain in the hunt for the final with a tie against rank outsiders Taiwan tomorrow.
Cornet beat Pennetta 7-5, 6-2 before Simon, who reached a 〝career-high sixth ranking this week, slumped 6-3, 6-3 to Italian journeyman Bolelli. The Italians then claimed the deciding mixed doubles, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).
With a couple of days to rest, Simon said the French could regroup and beat Russia tomorrow.
※We really want to play the final and we will give everything in the next match,§ he said. ※I won＊t practice too much tomorrow, to be ready on Thursday, and I think Alize is playing very good, so we are okay.§
﹥BRISBANE INT.
AP, BRISBANE, Australia
Novak Djokovic doesn＊t think his first-round loss to Ernests Gulbis at the Brisbane International is any cause for panic ahead of his Australian Open title defense.
Struggling to find his rhythm with a new racket, top-seeded Djokovic was upset 6-4, 6-4 in his opening match of the season yesterday by the 20-year-old Latvian who finished last year at No. 53.
The setback gave him more time to prepare for the Australian Open which starts on Jan. 19 in Melbourne, added Djokovic, who later confirmed he had accepted a wild card entry for next week＊s Sydney International.
Second-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who lost to Djokovic in the last Australian Open final, beat Argentina＊s Agustin Calleri 6-2, 7-5 later yesterday and is now favored to win the inaugural Brisbane title.
Fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic beat Australian Brydan Klein 6-0, 6-4, No. 7 Richard Gasquet of France beat American Taylor Dent 7-5, 6-4, and No. 4 Robin Soderling of Sweden had a 6-3, 6-3 win over Julien Benneteau in a second-round match.
American qualifiers Amer Delic and Bobby Reynolds both went out.
Croatia＊s Mario Ancic overcame Delic 7-6 (2), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6) and Japan＊s Kei Nishikori beat Reynolds 6-3, 6-2.
On the women＊s side, second-seeded Victoria Azarenka sealed a 7-6 (4), 7-5 win over Jarmila Gajdosova of Slovakia on her third match point and No. 3 Marion Bartoli of France beat Hungary＊s Melinda Czink 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.
﹥QATAR OPEN
AP, DOHA
Fourth-seeded Andy Roddick and No. 5 Gael Monfils won in straight sets on Monday in the first round of the season-opening Qatar Open.
Roddick beat Ivan Navarro of Spain 6-1, 6-3 after breaking twice in each set. The American will play Diego Junqeira of Argentina or Arnaud Clement of France.
Monfils of France fired seven aces to win 6-2, 6-2 over Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic, who committed 28 unforced errors.
Top-ranked Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Roger Federer, a two-time winner, were in action yesterday at the US$1.2 million tournament.
﹥CHENNAI OPEN
AP, CHENNAI, India
Third-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia and fifth-seeded Rainer Schuettler of Germany advanced to the second round of the season-opening Chennai Open on Monday.
Cilic needed only one break in each set to beat Alberto Martin of Spain 6-4, 6-4, and Schuettler held on to beat Indian wild card Prakash Amritraj 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.
Eighth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also advanced, beating Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea 6-4, 7-5.
Besides Schuettler, German players Simon Greul and Bjorn Phau also advanced. Greul beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 6-3, 6-4 and Phau defeated Santiago Ventura of Spain 6-2, 7-5.
Also, Dudi Sela of Israel rallied to overcome Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1, and Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic beat Go Soeda of Japan 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
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