Crowd favorite Maria Sharapova overcame a second-set loss of form to beat Agnieszka Radwanska yesterday and set up a final against Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic in the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament.
The Russian held her composure to storm back from 0-2 down in the final set to complete a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory over the Pole.
Earlier in the day Jankovic overcame an injury scare to beat Li Na of China 6-4, 6-3.
“It’s going to be difficult,” Sharapova said of her meeting with Jankovic in the final.
Sharapova, ranked 25th in the world after her shoulder injury lay-off, suffered a mid-match slump as she overhit her power-packed strokes and lost all of her service games in the second set.
After Radwanska squared the match at one-set all, the Russian then found herself 0-2 down in the final set but persisted in attacking Radwanska’s second serve to earn return winners on a break point in the fourth and eighth games.
Despite dropping two match points in the ninth, Sharapova finished off the match with another return winner on her fifth match point.
Jankovic needed treatment on her right arm at the beginning of the fourth game at 1-2 down.
But the Serbian showed no ill-effects to hit two consecutive winners from the baseline and break back on a Li backhand error which went wide at 15-40 to tie the score 2-2.
Jankovic added another break in the eighth game and, although she needed to save one break point in the following game, calmly served out for the match watching Li’s backhand service return go long.
■MALAYSIAN OPEN
AFP, KUALA LUMPUR
Nikolay Davydenko brushed aside a challenge from Gael Monfils yesterday to reach the semi-finals of the Malaysian Open, setting up a clash with French Open finalist Robin Soderling.
Davydenko, the top seed beat the Frenchman 6-3, 6-3, with Monfils dropping his serve four times during the match.
Third seed Soderling continued his easy passage with a third consecutive victory in straight sets as he crushed Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych 6-2, 6-2.
In the other quarter-finals Fernando Gonzalez beat Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-4 while Fernando Verdasco beat Richard Gasquet 7-5, 6-4.
■THAILAND OPEN
REUTERS, BANGKOK
Second seed Gilles Simon booked his place in the semi-finals of the Thailand Open after a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over hard-hitting Russian Evgeny Korolev yesterday.
Simon will meet Austrian Juergen Melzer in the semis after he overpowered Andreas Beck in a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 win.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their