Elena Dementieva continued her winning streak leading into the Australian Open, beating Dinara Safina 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 in yesterday’s Sydney International final.
Dementieva won the Auckland title last week and enters the season’s first major as the No. 4 seed and on a 10-match winning streak.
She beat fellow Russian Safina yesterday in a repeat of the Beijing Olympic final result in August, a day after ousting top-seeded Serena Williams.
PHOTO: EPA
“This is great, to have all this pressure after winning two titles,” she said. “Would it be better if I am just going to lose first round and play without pressure in Australia? No. It’s great to have all these matches played here and in Auckland and coming to Australia with the pressure, I love it, I really do.”
In the men’s semi-finals, Novak Djokovic lost 6-4, 7-6 (3) to Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen, missing another chance to move to a career-high No. 2 ranking.
The 21-year-old Serbian needed to reach the Sydney final to overhaul Roger Federer at No. 2 in the rankings when the Australian Open starts on Monday.
PHOTO: AP
Nieminen next faces Argentina’s David Nalbandian, who reached his 20th ATP Tour final with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Richard Gasquet.
“My forehand didn’t really work and you could see in all the important moments he served to my forehand and I couldn’t put the ball in,” Djokovic said. “Just a bad day. But we keep on going.”
The 27-year-old Nalbandian, who has nine tour titles and was a runner-up at Wimbledon in 2002, overpowered Gasquet, relying on backhand winners and attacking the Frenchman’s second serve.
Nalbandian won nine straight points to close out the first set and open a break in the second.
Gasquet broke back in the sixth game of the second set, helped by a between-the-legs shot from behind the baseline that he turned into a winner. Even Nalbandian applauded the shot.
But the comeback didn’t last. Nalbandian broke again to take a 4-3 lead and, after wasting three match points from 0-40 on Gasquet’s serve in the ninth game, he converted on his fourth.
Gasquet didn’t help himself, giving Nalbandian triple match point with a double-fault and a fourth match point with another.
“Every day, I feel more feeling on the ball and on the game, so it’s good playing a few matches and to be in the finals here,” Nalbandian said. “I have to keep going and believing in my game and try to do a good match tomorrow.”
■HOBART INTERNATIONAL
AP, HOBART,AUSTRALIA
Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic made her first WTA final a winning one, beating compatriot Iveta Benesova 7-5, 6-1 yesterday at the Hobart International.
The 18-year-old broke her Fed Cup teammate’s serve twice in the first set before powering away from her more experienced rival in the second set. It was the first all-Czech WTA final since 2005.
Benesova, ranked No. 41, reached the Hobart final in 2006 and was trying to win her first WTA tournament in five years. Her one title came at Acapulco, Mexico in 2004.
Kvitova and Benesova share coach David Kotyza, who was not sighted court-side during the match after saying he would not be able to watch if both his players won through to the final.
Kvitova and Benesova also shared a hotel room in Hobart.
“I don’t know if I can call her a friend anymore,” Benesova joked with the crowd. “We are sharing a room, but I think I will kick her out tonight.”
■KOOYONG CLASSIC
AP, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Stanislas Wawrinka held off Fernando Gonzalez 7-6 (3), 6-7 (1), 6-4 yesterday and will face Davis Cup teammate Roger Federer in the final of the Australian Open tuneup tournament at Kooyong.
The all-Swiss Kooyong final could be a warmup for the fourth round of the Australian Open. At the draw earlier yesterday for the season’s first major, Wawrinka was slotted into the same quarter as his mentor and sometime hitting partner Federer.
Federer has a difficult run at the Australian Open, with potential matches against former No. 1 Carlos Moya in the second round, 2005 Australian champion Marat Safin in the third, Wawrinka in the fourth and defending champion Novak Djokovic in the semis.
At Kooyong, the former home of the Australian Open, Wawrinka wasted a chance to serve for the match in the second set, leading 30-15 at 5-4 before Gonzalez broke back, forcing and dominating a tiebreaker.
He had two break points in the second game of the third set but Gonzalez saved both.
Wawrinka finally got match point on Gonzalez’s serve in the 10th game of the deciding set, clinching the win when the Olympic singles silver medalist from Chile sent a forehand long.
■HEINEKEN OPEN
AP, AUCKLAND
Top-seeded Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina will face American Sam Querrey in the Heineken Open final after both won semi-finals yesterday.
Del Potro, who won four ATP tournaments last year, beat third-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden 6-4, 6-3, while sixth-seeded Querrey recovered to edge David Ferrer of Spain 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
The second-seeded Ferrer was serving for the match at 5-3 in the deciding set when Querrey broke, and the big-serving American went on to win the tiebreaker, putting him in a position for his second ATP title. The 21-year-old won his first tour event last year at Las Vegas.
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
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 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
FINAL WEEK LOOMS: PSG rose to 22nd place to set up another tense challenge against 24th-placed Stuttgart, while Man City require victory against Club Brugge Manchester City are on the brink of a humiliating UEFA Champions League exit after a stunning loss to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, while Real Madrid is no longer at risk after routing Salzburg. Man City blew a two-goal lead in a high-stakes clash of super-wealthy underachievers that PSG won 4-2 in Paris, who could still be eliminated alongside the English champions after the final round of games next week. Only the top 24 in the 36-team standings are to advance. Man City, the 2023 champions, are in 25th place, but could squeeze into the knockout playoffs round by beating Club Brugge. “We will
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