Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas pulled off the shock of the tournament so far by beating top seed Peng Shuai of China 6-2, 6-2 at the Taipei WTA Ladies Open yesterday.
Diyas, the world No. 348, hit the ball confidently and served powerfully to sweep to victory in the first-round clash in only 1 hour, 2 minutes.
“Today I served really good, so my serve was a big weapon. Also I tried to move her a lot,” the 19-year-old said. “I just played my game, stepped into her returns, also to her serve.”
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Diyas raced through the opening set, which she claimed when Peng sent a return long off a blistering serve. The Kazakhstani then broke her opponent’s serve in the first game of the second set and the writing was on the wall for Peng when she dropped her serve again in the seventh game.
Diyas, whose ambition is to be world No. 1, wasted no time in wrapping things up in the next game to claim probably her best win since she defeated former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic two years ago.
Diyas is one of a growing number of prominent female players from Kazakhstan, although most, like Russian-born world No. 25 Yaroslava Shvedova, are recently naturalized.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
“Tennis in Kazakhstan is really going up, we have good facilities now, it’s getting really big,” Diyas said.
Peng acknowledged that her opponent had played well, but admitted that a shoulder problem had troubled her, especially when serving. She added that she had probably returned from injury too soon to play in Taipei.
“I really wanted to play in this tournament, as I have friends here, and I love the shopping and food,” Peng said, admitting she had a weakness for stinky tofu.
She also revealed that she was looking forward to playing doubles next year with Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei, a long-time friend.
Meanwhile, defending champion Ayumi Morita won her second-round clash against Paula Kania of Poland 6-2, 6-2, but required treatment on a knee injury during the match.
Despite heavy strapping on her right knee, Morita seemed to be cruising to victory at 4-1 up in the second set when she called for the trainer. There was a lengthy delay as she received treatment and when play resumed Morita immediately dropped her serve.
There were no further alarms, though, and the 22-year-old ended the contest in style with an ace on her first match point.
Morita said the injury had restricted her performance because she was scared of aggravating the problem, but was pleased with the way things went overall.
“I think I was serving well, returning well, so I’m very happy with the way I played today,” she said.
Morita hurt her knee during a practice session and the exact nature of the problem is not yet clear.
“I don’t have a match tomorrow, so I will get treatment and try my best,” she said.
Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen plays Caroline Garcia today following her hard-fought victory against Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand on Tuesday night. Chang won 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 6-2 to earn the right to face the promising 19-year-old from France, who gave Maria Sharapova a scare in last year’s French Open, before losing in three sets.
In other first-round matches Garcia beat Australia’s Monique Adamczak 6-3, 6-2 and Russia’s Irina Khromacheva defeated Alexa Glatch of the US 7-6 (8/6), 6-3.
In the second round, Japan’s Kurumi Nara beat Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand 6-3, 0-6, 6-4; Kristina Mladenovic of France defeated Thailand’s Nudnida Luangnam 6-1, 6-7 (6/8), 6-2; and Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm cruised past Ling Zhang of Hong Kong 6-1, 6-2.
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
‘SETTING THE TONE’: Donovan Mitchell said that their determination to dominate had nothing to do with past results, but was about a potential post-season clash The Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday boosted their NBA-best record with a 142-105 romp past the New York Knicks, tightening their grip on the Eastern Conference lead with an all-around dominant display. Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points to lead six Cavs players to score in double figures, connecting on five of seven three-pointers as Cleveland drilled 19 from beyond the arc. “I think the biggest thing was just try to set the tone early,” Mitchell said, adding that the determination to dominate had nothing to do with the Knicks’ first-round playoff win over the Cavs two seasons ago and everything to do with
BELGIANS ADVANCE: Club Brugge gave Atalanta a lesson in efficiency, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s team had 29 efforts at goal, compared with seven from the visitors Seldom has a player’s sending off had such an influence on a game. AC Milan was to left rue Theo Hernandez’s second yellow card — for diving — as Feyenoord advanced to the UEFA Champions League last 16 at the former European champion’s expense with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff on Tuesday, giving the Dutch team a 2-1 win on aggregate. Bayern Munich, Club Brugge and Benfica also won their playoffs, eliminating Celtic, UEFA Europa League winner Atalanta BC and French team AS Monaco respectively. “In soccer everything changes in a second,” said Milan forward
RSS