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.
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
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
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
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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