World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday powered her way to the Miami Open title, beating American Jessica Pegula 7-5, 6-2 in the WTA 1000 event at Hard Rock Stadium.
The title was the Belarusian’s first at Miami and her second of the season following her January triumph in Brisbane.
After losing the final at Indian Wells to Russian 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva earlier this month, Sabalenka was determined not to fall at the last hurdle again.
Photo: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images / USA Today
“I’m super happy to have this trophy, I was able to play my best tennis in the final,” said Sabalenka, who paid tribute to Pegula’s performance after repeating her win over her from last year’s US Open final.
In her past 14 matches against top 10 players, Sabalenka has won 12, which she credited to her mastering the temper that once plagued her performances.
In the past, Sabalenka would react to a break of serve or moments of frustration with anger and sometimes loud displays of her annoyance with herself, but there was no sign of such loss of cool against Pegula
She said she had made a conscious decision to cut out the antics when the game was in difficult moments.
“One day, I just decided: ‘OK, whatever happens on the court, I’m not gonna show my emotions.’ I went through a lot, and there is much more difficult stuff in life than just any smash, so I was like: ‘OK, whatever happens, I’m not gonna show any emotions. I’m done with that,’” she said.
“I don’t wanna be that kid who’s like, keeps getting frustrated and losing the matches — and it worked really well,” she said.
Meanwhile, at the Charleston Open, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was knocked out in women’s singles qualifying 6-2, 6-1 by Elvina Kalieva of the US.
The Taiwanese is seeded second with Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova in women’s doubles. They are to face Harriet Dart of the UK and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico in the opening round.
Chan’s compatriot Wu Fang-hsien and her Chinese partner Jiang Xinyu, who were eliminated in the semi-finals in Miami, are to open their Charleston campaign with a match against the American duo of Hailey Baptiste and Caty McNally.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that