Hopman Cup
Oblivious to a row brewing over her withdrawal from last year’s Hong Kong Open, Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard continued her impressive run at the Hopman Cup with a straight sets victory over Italian Flavia Pennetta on Thursday.
The 20-year-old Bouchard, who thrashed American world No 1 Serena Williams in the mixed team event on Tuesday, beat Pennetta 6-3, 6-4 without being broken in the match in Perth.
“Each game was kind of like a battle and I’m happy I was able to keep my serve in the second set, you know she was really putting pressure on me,” Bouchard said after defeating the world No 12.
The Canadian world No 6 was, however, unaware that her last minute withdrawal from last September’s inaugural Hong Kong Open, which drew the ire of the organisers, remained a hot topic on Thursday.
The Hong Kong Tennis Association (HKTA) publicly criticised Bouchard, who said she was tired after playing at the US Open, for which they have been fined $10,000 (Dh36,731).
The WTA cited a breach of code of conduct by the HKTA and said the comments had hurt Bouchard's reputation and financial interests, according to a South China Morning Post report.
HKTA president Herbert Chow Siu-lung called the WTA sanction as “injustice” and said the association would appeal against it.
“I see this as an act of bullying and intimidation and I ask that this (HKTA) council responds responsibly to such injustice from the WTA,” Chow was quoted as saying in the report.
Bouchard’s compatriot Vasek Pospisil defeated Fabio Fognini of Italy earlier to seal the win for Canada over the Italians.
ATP Doha
World No 1 Novak Djokovic took a significant step towards winning an opening week tournament for the first time in eight years on Wednesday, simultaneously earning himself a meeting with the man with 9,000 aces.
The Serbian’s increasingly fluent performance during a 6-2, 6-1 win over the Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky avoided a potential banana skin against an opponent best known for upsetting Roger Federer at Wimbledon 18 months ago, and it carried him into the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open.
Djokovic was pleased that after saving three break back points in the seventh game, he acquired more rhythm and started dominating an opponent whose penchant for net attacks can be disruptive.
“From that moment on it felt a different match,” Djokovic said. “I felt I was more swinging through the ball on the court and playing more confidently.”
It earned him a meeting with another unusual opponent who can be dangerous in a very different way – the seventh seeded Ivo Karlovic, whose 17 aces during a straight sets win over Nikoloz Basilashvili, a qualifier from Georgia, increased his career total to 9,041.
This is the most aces of any active player and places Karlovic only 33 behind Andy Roddick, the former US Open champion, whose total is the second highest of all time.
Karlovic’s aim, he says, is to beat the all-time record of 10,183 held by his Croatian compatriot, Goran Ivanisevic.
“How do you think I feel?” said Djokovic, his animated response to the match-up causing laughter.
“I’m definitely going to try to get some sleep so my reaction tomorrow is quick, because I’m going to need it
“He is one of the best servers ever to play the game. If you serve two or three aces per game, you create a lot of pressure. That’s why it’s very important for me to stay mentally strong and wait for the opportunities, wait for some second serves and hope he will miss some volleys.”
The man most likely to reach the final in the other half may be the winner of the meeting between Richard Gasquet, the sixth seeded Frenchman who won the title in Doha two years ago, and Tomas Berdych, the third-seeded former Wimbledon finalist from the Czech Republic.
Gasquet, who is hoping for better fitness after his disappointing 2014, certainly looked in good shape during a 6-3, 6-2 win over Simone Bolelli, the world No 52 from Italy.
“I think I’m feeling better,” Gasquet said. “I feel no pain in my back. That’s the most important for me, so I need to do the same for tomorrow, to play matches, to build my body back.”
Berdych eased past Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 6-1, 6-2 while Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer defeated compatriot Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-2.
Among Tuesday’s other winners were German Dustin Brown, Andreas Seppi of Italy and Ivan Dodig. Brown will face Ferrer in the quarters, while Seppi and Dodig will also match up.
ATP Chennai
Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka made a strong start to the year by brushing aside teenager Borna Coric of Croatia 6-1, 6-4 to march into the Chennai Open quarter-finals on Wednesday.
The Swiss top seed, who had a bye in the first round, won the title in the Southern Indian city last January and went on to win his maiden grand slam title in Melbourne.
The world No 4, coming off an underwhelming showing with two losses in last week's pre-season Mubadala World Tennis Campionship in Abu Dhabi, showed little sympathy for his 18-year-old opponent and raced into a 5-0 lead in the first set.
World No 95 Coric did well to hold his serve in the sixth game and get on the board but could not stop the Swiss from taking the first set.
The second set went on serve till Wawrinka got the break in the seventh game before racing to victory.
Wawrinka won 24 out of 26 points on his first serve and such was his domination that Coric could not manage a single break point against him.
He will next play eighth-seeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, who defeated Elias Ymer of Sweden 6-4, 6-3.
Fourth-seeded David Goffin of Belgium survived a scare against Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis to win 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 (7/1) and advance to the last eight.
Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria also moved into the quarter-finals, beating Jiri Vesely after dropping the first set 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-4.
ATP Brisbane
Milos Raonic moved into the Brisbane International quarter-finals early on Thursday, handling Mikhail Kukushkin in a mostly comfortable 6-3, 6-4 victory.
World No 8 Raonic, of Canada, was playing his first ATP Tour match of the season after a first round bye. He meets another early winner from Thursday, local hopeful Sam Groth.
Groth defeated Lukas Kubot 6-4, 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/3).
Kei Nishikori is already slated to meet Bernard Tomic in that half of the draw. If both second-seeded Nishikori and third-seeded Raonic win, it would set up an early showcase meeting between two of tennis’ young rising stars in the semi-finals.
In the other half another young player with his star on the rise, Grigor Dimitrov, faces Martin Klizan in the quarters, with the winner likely to see top seed Roger Federer, who kicks off his season later Thursday with a second round meeting against local wild card John Millman. The Australian beat American qualifier Rhyne Williams to earn his match with Federer.
The other second round match on Thursday pits Jarkko Nieminen against another Aussie, James Duckworth.
WTA Auckland
Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams continued their untroubled marches through the Auckland Classic field on Thursday, reaching the semi-finals of the tournament and keeping hopes a final between the No 1 and 3 seeds in the tournament.
Wozniacki dispatched Julia Gorges of Germany 6-4, 6-4. In three matches in Auckland the Dane has yet to drop a set. Williams, likewise, maintained an unblemished record in the tournament by beating Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-4.
Wozniacki is set to face fourth seeded Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the semi-finals after the Czech defeated Coco Vandeweghe 6-4, 7-5 earlier on Thursday.
Williams will be set an easier task with either Lauren Davis or Urszula Radwanska, both unseeded.
WTA Brisbane
Maria Sharapova breezed by Carla Suarez Navarro to reach the semi-finals of the Brisbane International on Thursday with a domineering 6-1, 6-3 victory.
The world No 2 launched her 2015 campaign in the second round with a similarly dominant straight-sets dismissal of Yaroslava Shvedova 6-0, 6-1 and continued her imperious form against world No 17 Navarro.
She will be set in the semi-finals against 28th-ranked Elina Svitolina, who notched a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 comeback win against world No 9 Angelique Kerber.
American Varvara Lepchenko secured a semi-final place in the other half of the draw with a tightly-contested 7-5, 7-5 win over Alla Kudryavtseva. She will next meet either world No 7 Ana Ivanovic or her challenge, Estonian world No 52 Kaia Kanepi.
WTA Shenzhen
A local hopeful advanced sensationally to the semi-finals of the Shenzhen Open on Thursday, but faces a monumental task to reach the final.
Zheng Saisai overcame fourth-seeded Zarina Diyas after dropping the first set 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2.
Little was expected from the Chinese contingent at the Shenzhen tournament after Chinese No 1 Peng Shuai fell to returning former world No 2 Vera Zvonareva in the first round, but Zheng came through in a pivotal, see-saw second set that saw her broke in the third game, break back in the fourth and sixth games, get broken again in the seventh game and once more in the 11th game to go down 6-5.
She broke Diyas one more time to force the tie-break before being broken on the first point. Zheng recovered to break back on the second, third and sixth points to cruise to the win.
Zheng now faces the unenviable task of top-seeded world No 3 Simona Halep, who has dropped just one set on her way to the last four.
Zvonareva’s forceful comeback was interrupted earlier when she had to retire down 3-2 to Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland, who advances to a semi-final showdown with either Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova or Tereza Smitkova.
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