After flirting briefly with the red clay he so clearly dislikes, Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun is back on hard courts and poised for a big haul of ranking points — if his gimpy back holds up.
Taiwan’s top-ranked tennis player reached the semi-finals of the US$100,000 Israel Open by defeating Benedikt Dorsch of Germany 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday, setting up a semi-final clash with another German, Simon Stadler, yesterday.
Lu had little problem with the No. 133 German, never facing a break point and generally controlling the rallies. He said his wide angle groundstrokes particularly troubled Dorsch and created many of his 11 break points, of which he converted four.
PHOTO: AFP
It was the third straight-set win for Lu in the second-tier Challenger event in Israel’s Ramat Hasharon, a welcome development for a player who wasn’t even sure he could play when the week began.
Lu hurt his back at a Challenger event in Tenerife in the Canary Islands last week and was forced to retire down 6-1, 4-0 in a quarter-final match against eventual tournament winner Marco Chiudinelli.
Worried that he had reinjured a disk in his back — an injury that kept him out of action for nearly half a year in 2007 — Lu flew to Germany to have his back checked out.
To Lu’s relief, it was diagnosed as nothing more than a pulled muscle that merely needed a few days of rest, but Lu said it still feels sore this week.
With Thursday’s win, Lu guaranteed himself at least 33 ranking points, points that he needed to keep himself firmly positioned inside the top 100.
The 25-year-old is now ranked No. 67 in the world after reaching a career-high of No. 55 early last month, and is playing in Challenger events (set up generally for players outside the top 100) on hard courts to defend some of the 186 ranking points he earned in tournaments last year that he will soon lose.
He would earn 90 points if he were to win the tournament in Israel.
With the ATP Tour in the heart of its clay court season, Lu gave the slow surface a shot at the Barcelona Open late last month, but lost in the first round. He has played in hard court events since.
■ITALIAN OPEN
REUTERS, ROME
Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova ended Jelena Jankovic’s two-year reign as champion by beating the Serbian 6-1, 7-6 in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open on Thursday.
World No. 1 Dinara Safina kept alive hopes of setting up an all-Russian final when she survived another scare to reach the last four with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
Former US Open champion Kuznetsova, who captured last week’s Stuttgart Grand Prix, will next face sixth seed Victoria Azarenka. The Belarusian beat Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi 7-6, 6-3 in a scrappy encounter.
Safina will meet American fourth seed Venus Williams or Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska in the last four.
■ESTORIL OPEN
AFP, ESTORIL, PORTUGAL
American James Blake booked his first claycourt quarter-final in more than a year with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 defeat of France’s Marc Gicquel at the Estoril Open on Thursday.
Blake broke twice in the 79-minute contest, which puts him into a quarter-final against French eighth seed Florent Serra, who defeated Argentine Juan Monaco 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
French top seed Gilles Simon, a wild card entry, who won his opening match on Monday, showed no signs of rust as he dispatched Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-0, 7-5 in 73 minutes.
■BMW OPEN
AP, MUNICH
Lleyton Hewitt overcame a slow start to beat Dutch qualifier Thiemo De Bakker 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday and joined fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals of the BMW Open.
Berdych rallied to beat Germany’s Andreas Beck 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
In other second-round matches on Thursday, German wild card Daniel Brands upset Julien Benneteau of France 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6).
Potito Starace defeated Italian rival Simone Bolelli 6-4, 7-6 (5) and will next play Brands.
■SERBIA OPEN
AP, BELGRADE, SERBIA
Second-seeded Ivo Karlovic advanced to the quarter-finals of the Serbia Open on Thursday after beating Brian Dabul of Argentina 6-4, 7-6 (5).
Karlovic will meet qualifier Flavio Cipolla from Italy, who eliminated seventh-seeded Frenchman Arnaud Clement 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Sixth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia was eliminated by Marcos Daniel of Brazil 6-4, 6-4.
Fourth-seeded Italian Andreas Seppi advanced by defeating Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-4, 6-1.
‘REMARKABLE’: Gaelic football is a traditional Irish sport that blends the skills of soccer and rugby, and hurling is an ancient sport played with a wooden stick and ‘sliotar’ The Taiwan Celts Gaelic Football Club marked a milestone achievement at the Asian Gaelic Games in Bangkok on Nov. 23 and 24, with two sides advancing to the knockout stages and competing at hurling for the first time. The event brought together 68 teams from 16 clubs across Asia, with more than 800 players in men’s and women’s tournaments. Gaelic football is a traditional Irish team sport that blends the skills of soccer, rugby union and basketball. Hurling is an ancient Irish sport played with a wooden stick, called a hurley, and a small ball, or sliotar. The Taiwan Celts’ women’s team reached
LIVERPOOL WIN: The 50th Champions League goal by Mohamed Salah helped the leaders of the Premier League to keep their perfect record intact Real Madrid’s big stars on Tuesday turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering UEFA Champions League title defense. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win against Serie A leaders Atalanta BC. However, Madrid still had to ride their luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage-time when handed a golden chance to level the game. It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champions in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. “It’s a very important win. Not everyone wins
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
Taiwan’s Lin Cheng-jing won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk in the women’s under-49 kg division at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Saturday. Lin won her first medal at a World Weightlifting Championships for lifting 107kg in the clean and jerk in her weight class, 2kg more than Rosegie Ramos of the Philippines. However, Ramos won bronze for the combined lift after topping Lin by 5kg in the snatch. Ri Song-gum of North Korea won gold in the division’s combined lift with a total of 213kg, while Xiang Linxiang of China took silver with
RSS