Former No. 1-ranked Amelie Mauresmo hopes to be fit for the Australian Open despite withdrawing from her Brisbane International semi-final with a thigh injury yesterday, putting fellow Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli into the final.
Fifth-seeded Mauresmo, who beat top-seeded Ana Ivanovic in straight sets in an upset result the previous evening, was trailing 4-0 in the opening set when she called for a trainer at the sixth deuce of her third service game.
Mauresmo received treatment to her left thigh and lower back and retired without playing another point.
PHOTO: AFP
“It happened in the second game,” Mauresmo said. “It wasn’t such a big pain so I kept going but I couldn’t really push off the serve and move the way I wanted.”
“Even though it’s frustrating and it’s not how you want to end a tournament, I guess it’s more reasonable to make sure I’m 100 percent for Melbourne [the Australian Open],” she said.
Mauresmo was a doubtful starter for the Sydney International next week, her last scheduled tuneup event for the Australian Open, which starts on Jan. 19.
The 29-year-old Mauresmo, the 2006 Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, has had a string of injuries over the past two years which has seen her ranking slip to No. 24.
Mauresmo said she’d had a similar thigh problem only six months before.
“I’ve been doing everything I can to avoid these kinds of moments. I just hope it’s not too bad and I can be good for Melbourne,” said Mauresmo, who planned to have an MRI scan today to determine the full extent of the problem before deciding whether to play in the Open.
“At worst I’d hope that nine days ... would be enough to make it feel much better,” she said.
Bartoli, a surprise Wimbledon finalist in 2007 and seeded third here, will play second-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in today’s final. Azarenka beat Sara Errani of Italy 6-3, 6-1 in the other semi-final yesterday.
In quarter-final men’s play at the joint ATP-WTA tournament, Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic beat Swede Robin Soderling 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 and Richard Gasquet defeated No. 2 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Soderling plays Stepanek in one semi-final today, while Fernando Verdasco of Spain takes on Paul-Henri Mathieu of France in the other.
The 23-year-old Tsonga, losing Australian Open finalist last year, double-faulted to give Gasquet the second set, and then repeated the effort in the fourth game of the third set.
Gasquet broke again in the eighth game to seal the match for his third victory over his friend and training partner in five career matches.
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
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