Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and doubles partner Martina Hingis reached the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the the Internazionali BNL d’Italia yesterday.
The Taiwanese-Swiss pairing defeated Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Abigail Spears of the US 6-2, 6-4 to stay on track for back-to-back titles after winning the Mutua Madrid Open on Saturday last week.
In the men’s draw, third seed Stanislas Wawrinka became the latest high-profile casualty at on Thursday when the Swiss was knocked out in the third round by John Isner of the US, who also defeated Marin Cilic in the first quarter-final, which finished just before press time last night.
Photo: AFP
Isner took his ace count to 72 in three rounds as he powered past Wawrinka on Thursday 7-6 (7/1), 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.
He then battled into the semis yesterday with a 7-6 (7/3), 2-6, 7-6 (7/2) win over sixth seed Cilic.
Croatian Cilic defeated David Goffin 6-3, 6-4 in their quarter-final.
World No. 2 Novak Djokovic continued to look more like his old self after a slump as he saw off Spain’s Roberto Bautista-Agut 6-4, 6-4 on Court Centrale to reach the quarters for an 11th successive year.
He was to play Juan del Potro in the quarter-finals yesterday.
Favorite Rafael Nadal’s imperious start to the clay-court season continued as he maintained his unbeaten streak on the surface this year with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over 13th-seed Jack Sock of the US.
He was to play Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals, which began just after press time last night, with the Austrian having become a familiar foe after two previous meetings in the past three weeks.
Earlier there was disappointment for home fans as Fabio Fognini, who beat top seed Andy Murray on Tuesday, was outplayed 6-3, 6-3 by Germany’s Alexander Zverev.
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
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