World No. 3 Maria Sharapova slumped to a surprise 6-4, 6-4 defeat against German Angelique Kerber in the Paris Open quarter-finals on Friday.
The top seeded Russian broke first in both sets, but failed to take her chances and was eventually eliminated when she hit a forehand out on match point.
“It was a hard day. She played extremely well,” Sharapova told reporters. “I was not as aggressive as I would have liked to be and she has a lot of power.”
Sharapova, who reached the final of the Australian Open last month, denied she took Kerber lightly.
“I did not underestimate her. She has been playing very well for six months,” the Russian said. “You would like to be in the final in every tournament you play, but let’s be realistic, the positive thing is I have the feeling I can play better than this.”
Kerber was delighted after beating a top five player for the first time in her career.
“I played very well. I just played my game, that was my plan,” ninth seed Kerber said.
The world No. 27 next meets Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium, who beat German Mona Barthel 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3 in their late -quarter-final clash.
Local hope Marion Bartoli was trailing 4-1 in the second set and 5-2 in the third and needed to show tremendous grit to battle back and beat Italy’s Roberta Vinci 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).
The second seed will meet Klara Zakopalova in the last four after the Czech beat sixth seed Julia Goerges of Germany 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.
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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