Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko came up just short in the women’s doubles final at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday, falling 6-7(5), 4-6 to top-seeded Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend.
The loss marked Hsieh’s second runner-up finish of the season against the Czech-US duo, following their intense showdown in last month’s Australian Open final.
Hsieh and Ostapenko had a strong start in Saturday’s match, leading 6-5 in the opening set and holding three set points. However, they were unable to convert their chances, allowing their opponents to force a tiebreak, which they lost 5-7.
Photo: Reuters
Despite showing resilience in the second set and narrowing a 2-5 deficit to 4-5, Hsieh and Ostapenko were unable to break their opponents’ serve again, conceding the championship in straight sets.
Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva beat Clara Tauson 7-6 (1), 6-1 to earn the biggest title of her career.
The victory would earn Andreeva her debut in the top 10 of the rankings next week — the first 17-year-old to achieve that since Nicole Vaidisova in 2007.
It caps quite a week for Andreeva, who also had wins over 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, five-time major champion Iga Swiatek and 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina to become the youngest player to defeat three major champions at a single event since Maria Sharapova at the 2004 WTA Finals. She also became the youngest player to reach the final of a WTA 1000 event.
Andreeva’s only other title was the Iasi Open in Romania last year.
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
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