Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Polish partner Jan Zielinski on Saturday survived a tough 90-minute round-of-16 match to advance to the mixed doubles quarter-finals of the US Open and stay in contention for a third Grand Slam title, while Jannik Sinner stormed into the last 16 as fellow world No. 1 Iga Swiatek stayed on course for a second New York triumph.
Seventh seeds and Australian Open winners Hsieh and Zielinksi took 1 hour, 29 minutes to beat Mexico’s Giuliana Olmos and Santiago Gonzalez 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 10-6.
Hsieh, 38, and Zielinski, 27, are eyeing their third Grand Slam title this year, after winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon, with a semi-final finish at the French Open.
Photo: AP
Hsieh and Zielinski are next to play the winners of the upcoming match between Americans Maria Mateas and Mackenzie McDonald and Italians Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.
Chan Hao-ching, Taiwan’s other remaining player in the tournament, and Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova defeated American sisters Carmen and Ivana Corley 7-6 (7-7), 6-7 (4-7), 6-4 to advance to the round of 16, where they are to play Harriet Dart of the UK and Diane Parry of France.
Australian Open champion Sinner raced past 87th-ranked Christopher O’Connell 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
The 23-year-old Italian’s win came a day after four-time champion Novak Djokovic was sent spinning to his earliest loss in New York in 18 years by Alexei Popyrin. One day earlier, 2022 winner Carlos Alcaraz was defeated in the second round by Dutch journeyman Botic van de Zandschulp.
“I knew I had to play very solid. My serve worked well so I am happy with my performance,” Sinner said after firing 15 aces in his 46 winners past outclassed O’Connell of Australia.
Sinner is to take on 14th seed Tommy Paul for a quarter-final place after the American defeated Canadian qualifier Gabriel Diallo in four sets.
Four-time French Open champion Swiatek was equally dominant as Sinner as the top-seeded Pole eased into the fourth round with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The 23-year-old next faces another Russian, Liudmila Samsonova, for a quarter-final place.
“I like the night sessions, but it’s noisy so I need to focus on my job and stay inside my bubble,” said Swiatek, who shot a long hard stare at her opponent when a ball was speared towards her early in the second set.
Daniil Medvedev remains the only former champion left in the men’s tournament, after sweeping past Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th
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