Top-seeded Iga Swiatek advances to 3rd round at China Open
Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek defeated Yuan Yue 6-0, 6-3 on Saturday to advance to the third round at the China Open in Beijing and create some WTA Tour history.
Iga Swiatek Sport News
Sinner survives to sink qualifier as Swiatek launches Beijing bid
BEIJING: Jannik Sinner survived a scare to sink French qualifier Terence Atmane 6-4, 7-5, 6-0 at the China Open on Saturday as Iga Swiatek launched her title bid. The world number two Italian Sinner will face 57th-ranked Fabian Marozsan of Hungary in the Beijing quarter-finals. “It was a very tough match today,” four-time Grand Slam champion Sinner said. “I felt like he was serving great.” Sinner said that he lost a bit of concentration during the second set but quickly recovered to steamroll past the 68th-ranked Atmane in the deciding set. “I started off very well in the third set then I saw (Atmane) struggling a bit physically. “It’s not how you want to win a match but very happy to be again in the next round.” Atmane declared it would be a fight with two aces in the first game and made Sinner work for the first set. Atmane sent down six more aces in the second and broke the 24-year-old Sinner to force a deciding set. With the Frenchman flagging, Sinner raced to victory. In the women’s draw, Swiatek breezed past home player Yuan Yue, cruising into round three with a 6-0, 6-3 victory. The world number two from Poland next faces Colombia’s Camila Osorio, ranked 83rd. Swiatek broke early to set the tone for an ultimately one-sided match against Yuan, winning the first set without dropping a game when the wildcard from China fired long. Cheered on by her home crowd, the world no.
Swiatek battles back to win Korea Open title
SEOUL :A tenacious Iga Swiatek battled back from the brink of defeat to capture the Korea Open title on Sunday, surviving a fright in the first set before taming Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 1-6 7-6(3) 7-5.
Mbappé and Militão strike from distance as Real Madrid deal Espanyol first loss
MADRID: Kylian Mbappé and Éder Militão scored from well outside the area to help Real Madrid ease past Espanyol 2-0 in La Liga on Saturday, dealing the Barcelona-based side their first loss. Espanyol gave Militão a smidgen of space and the Brazil defender fired a right-footed screamer into the top corner in the 22nd minute.
Runners celebrate Saudi national day at Jeddah historic district
JEDDAH: Professional runners, amateurs, families and children of all ages took to the streets and alleys of Jeddah’s historic district early Friday morning for the Jeddah Green Spirit Run, part of the city’s 95th National Day celebrations.
Verstappen claims pole in chaotic Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying
BAKU: Max Verstappen grabbed his sixth pole position of the season for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after a crash-marred qualifying session on the Baku street circuit Saturday. Red Bull’s reigning world champion edged Spaniard Carlos Sainz of Williams and New Zealander Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls in a chaotic session which saw seven crashes. World championship leader Oscar Piastri crashed in Q3 and will start from ninth on the grid, two places behind McLaren teammate Lando Norris. While the battle for pole position usually lasts an hour, this time it lasted almost two hours due to the time needed to remove the crashed cars, clean up debris scattered across the track, and repair crash barriers. There were three red flags in Q1, the first part of qualifying, following crashes by Thailand’s Alexander Albon (Williams), Germany’s Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber), and Argentina’s Franco Colapinto (Alpine). Then there was an interruption in Q2 when Britain’s Oliver Bearman (Haas) went off the track, and finally two in Q3 following the violent crashes of Monaco’s Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Australia’s Piastri. Norris failed to seize the opportunity offered to him by Piastri, finishing only seventh after a mistake on his only flying lap in Q3. The Briton will therefore start only two places ahead of his teammate, who has a 31-point lead over him at the top of the world championship.
Swiatek shrugs off double duty to reach Korea Open final
SEOUL: Iga Swiatek blazed into the Korea Open final after bad weather forced her to play two matches on Saturday, winning both in a combined time of two and a half hours. The Polish six-time Grand Slam champion thrashed the Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova 6-0, 6-3 in a quarter-final moved from Friday because of heavy rain, then returned to the court hours later to face Australia’s Maya Joint. World number two Swiatek was just as clinical against her semifinal opponent, winning 6-0, 6-2 to move into her fifth final of the year. In Sunday’s final, she will face Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova, who beat Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova 6-4, 6-2 in the other semifinal. “I just focused on myself and on the goals that I had before and continued doing what I was doing throughout the whole tournament, because it’s been working,” said Swiatek. Swiatek came into the Seoul tournament on the back of a stunning quarter-final defeat to eventual finalist Amanda Anisimova at the US Open. Swiatek, whose father Tomasz competed in rowing at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, dispatched Krejcikova in 1 hour, 25 minutes. She had an even shorter evening’s work against Joint, winning in 1 hour, 6 minutes. Swiatek was all business from start to finish against Joint, clinching the match with an easy winner at the net. All four quarter-finals were pushed back a day from Friday as bad weather continued to affect the tournament, which has been hit with delays all week.
ITF names 'Tie Break Tens' as official partner in short format of sport
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) on Thursday appointed Tie Break Tens (TB10) as its official partner in short-format tennis, with the format set to be integrated into the governing body's Junior Tennis Initiative (JTI) programme.