Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun earned a first-ever win over Sam Querrey at the Miami Open on Wednesday, while Vasek Pospisil was docked a point after an outburst.
Lu, who is ranked No. 1,020, defeated Querrey, 6-3, 6-4 in 70 minutes.
The 37-year-old had not beaten his American opponent in three previous meetings and has never won consecutive main-draw matches in Miami, a record he has a chance to erase today in a meeting with top-seeded Daniil Medvedev for a spot in the round-of-32.
Photo: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY
Meanwhile, angry about politics in tennis, Pospisil of Canada staged a tantrum and was docked a point to lose the first set in his opening-round match against Mackenzie McDonald of the US.
Pospisil, who has been trying to set up a new group to represent men’s professional players, regained his composure, but lost to qualifier McDonald 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
During a changeover after his first-set meltdown, Pospisil used a profanity to describe ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi and complained about a meeting they attended on Tuesday.
Photo: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY
Pospisil told the chair umpire Gaudenzi was “screaming at me in a player meeting for trying to unite the players — for an hour and a half... If you want to default me, I’ll gladly sue this whole organization.”
Pospisil and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic have been trying to set up the new group.
Tennis players never have had a union.
The ATP did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Pospisil’s tirade.
Pospisil angrily launched a ball out of the court and smashed two rackets in the first set.
Serving while facing a set point, he was penalized for verbal abuse to lose the set.
Separately, John Isner, who was to play McDonald in the second round, has called on the ATP Tour to give players a clearer picture of the decisionmaking process behind cuts to prize money, although the American walked back some of his fiery criticism from last month.
Isner had lashed out at the men’s governing body on Twitter after the Miami Open, an ATP Masters 1000 event, cut its total prize purse by 60 percent.
Last month, he called the ATP a “broken system” and demanded a “true audit” of tournaments’ finances, saying that tennis was “plagued by conflict and lack of transparency.”
On Wednesday, he said his comments were not really about the prize money itself.
“It’s about the system of the ATP, and why the decisions are made and what goes into the prize money being so low,” he said. “I do think recently the players have felt like the tour has been more transparent with them. We’re trying to understand the process a bit more.”
In women’s play, American Sloane Stephens earned her first victory of the year by rallying past qualifier Oceane Dodin of France 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 6-2.
Stephens, who won the tournament in 2018, had been 0-4 previously this year and had not won a match since the French Open in September last year.
READY TO GO: Lin, who got a first-round bye and is to compete in the round of 16 on Friday, said all she can do is ‘ignore what the haters say’ and focus on her bouts Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting, who was stripped of her bronze medal at last year’s International Boxing Association (IBA) Women’s World Boxing Championships after failing a gender eligibility test, has been cleared to compete in Paris, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Monday. Lin and Imane Khelif of Algeria, who had both been disqualified at the world championship in New Delhi in March last year, have complied with all rules to fight at the Games, the IOC said. They are now to compete in their second Summer Games, after both finishing outside the podium at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. “All athletes participating
China’s 24-year-old table tennis player Wang Chuqin was overjoyed on Tuesday after securing his first Olympic gold medal alongside teammate Sun Yingsha. His elation soon turned to disbelief, anger and frustration when he discovered that his new paddle — crucial for his singles and team events — had been damaged by excited photographers rushing to capture the moment. Visibly upset, Wang tried to ask for an explanation. His coach tried to hug him in an effort to console him and ask him to stay calm. Wang soon regained his composure despite the setback. “At that moment, I lost control of my emotions a little.
In April last year, Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying finally opened up about her future in the sport in which she had competed professionally since 2009. “My plan is to retire after the end of next year’s season. Even if I’m still able to compete, I would prefer not to,” she said at a promotional event. If true, the Paris Olympics would be her last stab at an Olympic gold medal, a prize some might think a player who has topped the rankings in women’s singles for a record total of 214 weeks — between December 2016 and September 2022 — should
Japan’s 14-year-old Coco Yoshizawa on Sunday grabbed gold in the all-teenage women’s street skateboard final at the Paris Olympics, after nailing a high-risk ride down the hand-rail. Yoshizawa went into her penultimate trick with two big scores, but needing a third to complete her total, before finishing in style. “I knew that if I wanted to win, I had to go for the most difficult tricks. I didn’t aim for second or third place; I aimed for the top spot with my highest difficulty moves,” she said. Even though all her rivals had one more run, she raised her board above