Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open.
Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2.
Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16.
Photo: Reuters
Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian Wells victory, which followed her and Mertens winning the title at the Australian Open, where she also won the mixed doubles title with Poland’s Jan Zielinski.
Meanwhile, Chan Hao-ching of Taiwan and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia yesterday crashed out of the round of 16, losing 7-6 (7/6), 6-1 to eighth seeds Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain.
In men’s singles on Saturday, Rafael Nadal defeated Alex de Minaur from Barcelona 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 to extend his stay in Madrid on his final appearance at his home tournament, but said he still “needs time” to return to his competitive peak.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion advanced to a third-round meeting with Argentina’s Pedro Cachin.
In front of a capacity crowd that included the King of Spain, Felipe VI, French soccer icon Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior, Nadal dug deep to dismiss the world No. 11, despite admitting ahead of the tournament he was still struggling with numerous physical issues.
It was an impressive performance from the 37-year-old, but he immediately dismissed the idea it was anywhere near his vintage form.
“No, not yet. It needs time,” Nadal said on court. “To play over two hours means a lot to me and the atmosphere here is just a joke. Just step by step and let’s see how I recover.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas suffered a surprise second-round exit at the hands of world No. 118 Thiago Monteiro, while top seed Jannik Sinner extended his unbeaten record against fellow Italians to 13-0 by defeating his Davis Cup teammate and good friend Lorenzo Sonego 6-0, 6-3 in just 69 minutes.
Last year’s women’s finalist Iga Swiatek eased past Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-1 to book a fourth-round meeting with home favorite Sara Sorribes Tormo, while Ons Jabeur, the 2022 champion, wiped a 0-3 deficit in the first set, and 0-2 and 2-4 deficits in the decider to overcome Canada’s Leylah Fernandez 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 and move into the last 16.
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
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