The Eastern Bloc crumbled at the Sony Ericsson Open on Sunday with Russia’s world No. 2 Dinara Safina among a trio of top 10 women suffering third-round upsets.
Seventh seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Russian sixth seed Vera Zvonareva also endured surprise elimination, but it was business as usual for the top ranked men with Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic all jaunting through.
Safina lost 6-1 6-4 to unseeded Australian Samantha Stosur and described the rain-interrupted encounter as a “disaster.”
PHOTO: AFP
“It was just bad match for me. It was just a disaster match,” a stern-faced Safina said.
“I started to play a little bit better at 6-1, 3-0 but I had put the game in her hands and it was too late,” the second seed added, blaming fatigue for her form.
“It’s very disappointing. That’s what I’m playing for,” Safina said. “I want to be there. Suddenly I go to the court and I don’t even fight for it. It’s just bad behavior from my side. Champions, they don’t do this. It’s a good punishment for me. I have to get smarter.”
PHOTO: AP
Stosur, ranked world No. 42, was to next face France’s Amelie Mauresmo, an impressive three-sets victor over Italian Flavia Pennetta.
“It’s a great feeling to beat a top-10 player again,” Stosur said. “I came close a few times. Today I got over the line and I’m just really pleased. I knew I could do it. It was just a matter of when it was going to happen.”
Hungarian Agnes Szavay, No. 25, beat Ivanovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in another rain-affected match.
Ivanovic’s exit completed a bad weekend for Serbia after her compatriot Jelena Jankovic was knocked out in the second round by Argentine Gisela Dulko.
“I hardly did anything well today. I was trying to come in, and I was volleying pretty well at times, but I was really disappointed. I couldn’t really hold my serve,” Ivanovic said.
Zvonareva went out to Li Na of China 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
While Serbs and Russians fell, the US’ Williams sisters marched on.
Venus beat battling German Anna-Lena Groenefeld 7-5, 6-3 while world No. 1 Serena gave up a game fewer on her way to a 7-5, 6-2 victory over China’s Peng Shuai.
In the men’s event, Roddick survived a grueling first set tiebreak against Russian Dmitry Tursunov, which he won 11-9, before going on to ease through the second set 6-2.
World No. 2 Federer enjoyed a routine 6-4, 6-1 win over German Nicolas Kiefer but will face a surprise opponent in the fourth round after 15th-ranked Spaniard Tommy Robredo lost 7-5, 6-3 to qualifier Taylor Dent of the US. Dent’s career looked finished in 2007 after he spent most of the year in a cast with a back injury.
Third-seeded Serbian Djokovic gave some satisfaction to his country with a comfortable 6-4, 6-1 win over Paul-Henri Mathieu of France.
It was a poor day for Russia — and the Safin family — with Dinara’s brother Marat losing to Frenchman Gael Monfils 5-7 7-5 7-6 in the day’s most exciting game.
Monfils, who will now play Roddick, came back from a 2-5 deficit in the third set and then saved two match points in the third.
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