Australia’s Samantha Stosur beat top-seeded Serena Williams in a shock result at the WTA’s Bank of the West Classic on Friday.
Although Stosur, winner of 22 WTA doubles titles but no singles titles, reached the semi-finals of the French Open this year, the defeat of the Wimbledon champion was a significant upset.
“It’s one of the biggest, if not the biggest win of my career,” Stosur said of her 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory over the Wimbledon champion Williams. “We don’t always play our best tennis every single day. Maybe she didn’t play her best and I played very well.”
PHOTO: AP
Williams’ elder sister Venus beat Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-2.
In the other quarter-finals, third-seeded Elena Dementieva downed Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-4 and Marion Bartoli scraped past fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3.
Stosur saved nine of 10 break points on Friday and played a steady game against Serena, who had a nine-match winning streak snapped. She will face Bartoli in the semi-finals.
Sharapova, who returned to the court earlier this year after a nine-month layoff, had 30 unforced errors in her loss. Venus had 14 winners, including three aces, against 17 unforced errors.
Bartoli, ranked No. 15, beat Jankovic for the fourth straight time and improved to 10-3 against her. Dementieva of Russia will face Venus in the semi-finals.
■LA OPEN
REUTERS, LOS ANGELES
Top-seeded German Tommy Haas survived a see-sawing opening set to beat Russian Marat Safin 7-6, 6-2 on Friday and book his place in the semi-finals of the LA Open.
Tournament champion in 2004 and 2006, Haas broke his eighth-seeded opponent in the fifth and seventh games of the second set to seal victory in one hour, 49 minutes to set up a meeting in the last four with American Sam Querrey.
Sixth seed Querrey upset fourth-seeded Israeli Dudi Sela 6-3, 7-5 on a sun-splashed afternoon, breaking his opponent once in each set.
Earlier, little-known Australian qualifier Carsten Ball eased into his first ATP semi-final with a 6-4, 6-4 win against towering American John Isner.
The 22-year-old left-hander, whose father and coach is former Australian professional Syd Ball, twice broke Isner to become the first qualifier to reach the last four in Los Angeles in a decade.
Ball will next meet Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer, who gained a walkover into the last four when second-seeded American Mardy Fish pulled out on Friday because of an abdominal strain.
■CROATIA OPEN
AP, UMAG, CROATIA
Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko saved five set points in the first set on Friday before reaching the semi-finals of the Croatia Open with a 7-6 (10), 6-1 win over Simone Bolelli of Italy.
Bolelli had two set points at 6-5 and three more in the tiebreaker.
Davydenko will next face fourth-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria, who saved four match points to oust Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3.
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
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
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
LONG TIME COMING: With the addition of Marcus Smart, the Washington Wizards finally held a team to under 100 points, the last team this season to do so The Detroit Pistons on Monday won their seventh straight game in the NBA with in-form Cade Cunningham making 32 points and grabbing nine rebounds in a 106-97 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Pistons, who are in the playoff position, moved to 32-26, their best record at this stage of a season for 17 years. It was an all-round effort from Detroit with Tobias Harris adding 20 points and Jalen Duren making 19 rebounds along with his 12 points. It was a tight contest until Detroit pulled away late in the third quarter to tie their longest winning streak since the 2014-2015
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