Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open.
The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament.
In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.
Photo: AP
Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group.
The US and China were playing as of press time last night.
Sixth-ranked Rybakina earned the first point for Kazakhstan, with the 2022 Wimbledon champion hammering Laura Siegemund 6-3, 6-1.
Photo: AFP
Zverev withdrew from his clash against Alexander Shevchenko at the last minute with a bicep strain, leaving 254th-ranked Daniel Masur to face him.
He put up a brave fight, but Shevchenko was too strong, powering home 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-2 despite a medical timeout in the second set, complaining about difficulty breathing.
Meanwhile, at the ASB Classic in Auckland, Taiwan’s Tsao Chia-yi and Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech yesterday defeated Quinn Gleason of the US and Kimberley Zimmermann of Belgium 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the women’s doubles quarter-finals. Twenty-one-year-old Tsao, who with Hsieh Su-wei reached the women’s doubles quarter-finals at last year’s Paris Games, and Plipuech are today to play Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US.
Second seeds Wu Fang-hsien of Taiwan and Jiang Xinyu of China are today to play Australia’s Monique Barry and Jade Otway, after advancing to the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Britain’s Emily Appleton and Maia Lumsden on Monday.
In the women’s singles, four-time major champion Naomi Osaka used a rain break to her advantage to power to a straight-sets 7-5, 6-3 over unseeded Austrian Julia Grabher to a book a place in tomorrow’s quarter-finals.
At the Brisbane International, Australian wild-card Kimberly Birrell stunned second seed Emma Navarro 7-5, 7-5, while the doubles act of Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios came to a shuddering halt after losing 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 to top seeds Michael Venus of New Zealand and Croatia’s Nikola Mektic 6-2, 3-6, 10-8.
“Playing those guys, they hit some unbelievable shots,” Venus said. “Down three points in the tiebreak, the way they were serving, it wasn’t looking great, but somehow we got back in there.”
Defending men’s champion Grigor Dimitrov powered into the quarter-finals by easing past Australian wild-card Aleksandar Vukic 6-2, 7-6 (7/5).
Additional reporting by staff writer
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