No.1 seed Ayumi Morita lived up to her billing on the first day of the Taipei Ladies Open yesterday by sweeping aside Carly Gullickson 6-0, 6-2. The Japanese took top billing after the late withdrawal of China’s Peng Shuai and showed she was now the player to beat by outclassing her American opponent.
Things started badly for Gullickson when she was broken in the first game before Morita raced through the rest of the set, claiming the last two games without dropping a point.
The US player avoided the possibility of an ignominious “double bagel” by holding her serve in the first game of the second set, but after handing the third game to Morita with a double fault the writing was on the wall for the 22 year-old.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Gullickson faced match point in the seventh game, but hung on only for Morita to wrap things up on the next match point in the subsequent game.
The Japanese world No. 74 faces Katalin Marosi in the next round after the Hungarian beat Anne Kremer of Luxembourg 6-4, 6-3.
Australia’s Sophie Ferguson brought no. 6 seed Michelle Larcher de Brito’s hopes to an early end in a one-sided contest on Court 2. The 23 year-old from Sydney benefitted from a flurry of errors by her frustrated Portuguese opponent to take the first set 6-1.
The 16 year-old started the second set no better and found herself 0-2 down after being broken in the second game. Ferguson immediately dropped her serve and the match became more of a contest as Larcher de Brito showed signs of the talent that has seen her labelled as a potential star of the future.
The Portuguese had two break points at 4-4 but failed to convert either and paid the price when Ferguson claimed her third match point in the next game.
Next up for the Aussie is Japan’s Yurika Sema who beat Aniko Kapros of Hungary 6-4, 6-1.
In the doubles, third seeds Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic and Andreja Klepac of Slovenia defeated Taiwan’s Chen Yi and Rika Fujiwara of Japan 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3) [10-6]. In yesterday’s other doubles match second seeds Chan Chin-wei of Taiwan and Yan Zi of China beat Liu Chi-fan of Taiwan and Liu Shaozao of China 6-2, 6-2.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
FINAL WEEK LOOMS: PSG rose to 22nd place to set up another tense challenge against 24th-placed Stuttgart, while Man City require victory against Club Brugge Manchester City are on the brink of a humiliating UEFA Champions League exit after a stunning loss to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, while Real Madrid is no longer at risk after routing Salzburg. Man City blew a two-goal lead in a high-stakes clash of super-wealthy underachievers that PSG won 4-2 in Paris, who could still be eliminated alongside the English champions after the final round of games next week. Only the top 24 in the 36-team standings are to advance. Man City, the 2023 champions, are in 25th place, but could squeeze into the knockout playoffs round by beating Club Brugge. “We will
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
RSS