Australia and New Zealand advanced to the final of the Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Group I playoffs yesterday, Australia with their third straight 3-0 win and New Zealand needing a three-set doubles victory.
Casey Dellacqua beat Hwang I-hsuan of Taiwan 6-1, 6-1 before Sam Stosur gave Australia an unbeatable 2-0 lead with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Chan Chin-wei.
Stosur and Rennae Stubbs extended Australia’s unbeaten run at the tournament with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) win over Chan and Chuang Chia-jung in the doubles.
PHOTO: AFP
Australia finished on top of Group B and progressed to today’s final against Group A winners New Zealand, who beat Indonesia 2-1.
The winner of the Asia/Oceania zonal final will advance to the World Group II playoff in April.
New Zealand’s doubles pairing of Marina Erakovic and Kairangi Vano secured their third successive win of the tournament by beating Ayu Fani Damayanti and Sandy Gumulya of Indonesia 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
Erakovic had earlier won her match 6-2, 6-4 over Gumulya and Di Hollands lost to Damayanti 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
India, who finished last in Group A, and Taiwan, last in Group B, will play a relegation match today. The loser will drop to regional Group II in 2010.
■DAVIS CUP
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
With Lu Yen-hsun pulling out injured, Taiwan’s Chen Ti lost to Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin in the first singles match against Kazakhstan in Asia/Oceania Group I in Hsinchuang yesterday.
Chen, who sustained a stomach injury when he reached for a ball at 5-5 in the fourth set, lost to world No. 149 Kukushkin 7-6, 7-5, 1-6, 5-7, 4-6.
Jimmy Wang tied the match 1-1 against world No. 92 Andrey Golubev in the second singles match 7-6, 6-3, 6-2 .
In today’s doubles, Yang Tsung-Hua and Yi Chu-huan will play Alexey Kedryuk and Yuriy Schukin.
In tomorrow’s reverse singles, Chen will play Golubev, followed by Wang against Kukushkin.
Taiwan has won all three previous Davis Cup matches against Kazakhstan in 2000, 2003 and last year. Thee of the four Kazakhstan players this year are naturalized Russians.
■MOVISTAR OPEN
AP, VINA DEL MAR, CHILE
Second-seeded Tommy Robredo moved into the quarter-finals of the ATP’s Movistar Open with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) win over Argentina’s Brian Dabul on Thursday.
That set up a last-eight clash against wild card Juan Iganacio Chela. The former highly ranked Argentine, on the comeback from a herniated disc, ousted compatriot Martin Vassallo Arguello 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
Lucky loser Sebastian Decoud of Argentina, who only made it into the main draw when Alberto Martin withdrew with cramps, upset seventh-seeded Agustin Calleri 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 to reach his first ATP quarter-finals.
His opponent will be another Argentine, Jose Acasuso, who ousted Brazil’s Tomus Bellucci 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
In the top half of the draw, the quarter-finals will see top-seeded local hope Fernando Gonzalez meet Argentina’s Juan Monaco and Chile’s Paul Capdeville take on qualifier Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.
■SA TENNIS OPEN
AP, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France reached the SA Tennis Open quarter-finals on Thursday by beating Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-1, 6-4.
Tsonga peppered his opponent with powerful serves and used deft slices and drop shots to reach his fourth consecutive quarter-final of the year.
The 14th-ranked Frenchman will next face sixth-seeded Kristof Vliegen of Belgium, who beat Ivo Minar 6-4, 6-1.
South African wild cards Rik de Voest and Izak van der Merwe both lost at the tournament, that is making a return to South Africa for the first time in 13 years. De Voest lost to Frederico Gil of Portugal 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, and Van der Merwe was defeated by Sebastian De Chaunac of France 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 7-6 (7/5).
■ZAGREB INDOORS
AP, ZAGREB
Defending champion Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine beat third-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday to advance to the quarter-finals of the Zagreb Indoors. Stakhovsky will play Viktor Troicki of Serbia.
Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic rallied to defeat fourth-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-2 and reach his first quarter-final in two years. He will play Mischa Zverev of Germany, who saved five match points before beating Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (9/7).
Croatian qualifier Ivan Dodig beat Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 and will play seventh-seeded Mario Ancic, who routed Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-1, 6-1.
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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