World No. 1 Rafael Nadal will try to nab a second elite ATP Masters 1000 title in as many starts at the Miami hardcourt tennis tournament due to start in Key Biscayne yesterday.
Nadal, the Australian Open champion, arrived in Florida fresh from his triumph in the opening Masters event at Indian Wells, California, on Sunday.
On the women’s side, world No. 1 Serena Williams returns to action after skipping Indian Wells, along with her sister Venus.
PHOTO: AFP
Nadal, who won his sixth Grand Slam title and his first on hardcourt in Melbourne and said his triumph in California made it a “dream start” to the season, insisted that he couldn’t afford to be complacent.
“The good thing of tennis is when you lose, you have another chance next week,” he said after a lopsided win over Andy Murray in California.
“The bad thing is when you win, next Tuesday you are like this another time,” he said, clutching his throat with a smile. “It’s very difficult to play during all the year your best level.”
PHOTO: AFP
That said, Nadal says he believes he has more weapons at his disposal now.
“I think I have more options to do,” he said. “I can do more things than before. I can change the rhythm with one sliced backhand.”
Nadal’s season so far has included his five-set triumph over Roger Federer in the Australian Open final, a runner-up finish in Rotterdam and his win over Scotland’s Andy Murray in the Indian Wells final.
The 22-year-old has never lifted the trophy in Miami, losing to Federer in the final in 2005 and to Nikolay Davydenko in last year’s championship match.
Russia’s Davydenko won’t defend his title because of a lingering foot injury.
The field does boast three former champions, 2007 winner Novak Djokovic, Federer (2005 and 2006) and American Andy Roddick (2004).
This year marks the first time since 2003 that Federer doesn’t come in as the top seed.
The world No. 2 from Switzerland made his return from a six-week layoff at Indian Wells, where he was ousted in the semi-finals by Murray. Federer, a 13-time Grand Slam champion, remains in search of his first title of the year.
Murray arrives in Florida ranked No. 4 in the world, but closing in on world No.3 Djokovic, who was the defending champion in Indian Wells but fell in the quarter-finals to Roddick.
Taiwan’s No.1 male player Lu Yen-hsun was drawn to play 22-year-old world No. 55 Eduardo Schwank of Argentina in the first round.
The return to action of the Williams sisters highlights the women’s action.
Serena is the two-time defending champion, and will be gunning for her sixth title overall in the WTA premier mandatory event.
Between them, Serena and Venus have won eight titles in Miami and this year, with Venus seeded fifth, they could meet in the semi-finals.
Serena won three straight titles here from 2002-2004, and beat Justine Henin in 2007 and Jelena Jankovic in last year’s final.
In the quarter-finals she could run into sixth-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva, who triumphed at Indian Wells on Sunday for the first premier-level title of her career.
Jankovic, a former world No. 1 whose struggles this year continued with a second-round ouster at Indian Wells, could face Venus Williams — winner here in 1998, 1999 and 2001 — in the quarter-finals.
World No. 2 Dinara Safina of Russia could face a potentially tricky second round encounter against wild card Sania Mirza of India.
Safina, who finished runner-up at the Australian Open, was the top seed in California last week but lost in the quarter-finals, missing out on a chance to overtake Serena Williams atop the world rankings.
Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan will play Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova in round one.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
Marloon Herrera was crying — happy tears. With Cuba trailing in the fifth inning of its Little League World Series (LLWS) opener on Thursday, Herrera lined a two-run double to give his team the lead. When the Czech Republic, representing Europe-Africa, made a pitching change, he ran over to give his third base coach a hug. Cuba went on to win 4-1. It was the first game at this year’s tournament for both sides, but it was also the beginning of Cuba’s second appearance in the series ever — and it was emotional. “You breathe baseball in Cuba,” manager Everaldo Machado said on
Taiwan on Friday beat Australia 11-0 at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Taiwan are represented at the tournament by Taoyuan’s Gueishan Elementary School, who won the Asia-Pacific regional tournament to earn the trip to the US. Australia are represented by the Hills Red team from Sydney. Taiwan advanced to a game tomorrow against Santa Clara, representing Cuba, who won 4-1 against the Czech Republic’s Brno, the Europe-Africa regional qualifiers. Australian starter Sayre Howick had a tough time controlling his pitches at Volunteer Stadium, one of which allowed Taiwan to open their account. They scored six in the inning and
World Boxing, an international amateur boxing organization formed last year after a breakdown in relations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA), has announced the admission of Taiwan, along with four other nations, into its growing list of members. In a statement released on its Web site on Friday, the Swiss- based organization said that in addition to Taiwan, admitted as Chinese Taipei, Bhutan, Ecuador, Fiji and Pakistan have also become members. The new members all have well-rounded national and international boxing programs as well as transparency in the leadership and management of their national boxing programs,
COOLED DOWN: Du Plessis apologized after the fight for comments about his Nigerian-born opponent, after Adesanya said he planned to take the belt back to Africa South African Dricus du Plessis yesterday took a flurry of body hits across four rounds before defeating Israel Adesanya by submission to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 305. After scoring some early takedowns, Du Plessis (22-2) had to withstand a flurry of body strikes from Adesanya through the middle rounds, which appeared to be taking a toll on the 30-year-old South African as the fight progressed. However, a left hook followed by three rights helped bring Adesanya down, giving Du Plessis the opening he wanted as he swiftly got the choke hold that forced the Nigerian-born New Zealander to tap out