Showing posts with label Barbora Krejcikova. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barbora Krejcikova. Show all posts
Tuesday, 21 July 2026
Thursday, 4 September 2025
Wednesday, 3 September 2025
Tuesday, 26 August 2025
VENUS WILLIAMS BOWS OUT OF US OPEN AS STREAMLINED ALCARAZ SAILS THROUGH
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| USA's Venus Williams waves at supporters after losing against Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova at the end of their women's singles first round tennis match on day two of the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City Image: Kena Betancur / AFP |
Venus Williams battled bravely before bowing out of the US Open on her return to Grand Slam tennis on Monday as Spanish ace Carlos Alcaraz stormed into the second round with a dominant opening win.
The second full day of action in New York saw all eyes turn to the Arthur Ashe Stadium's night session, where the 45-year-old Williams lost in three sets to 11th seed Karolina Muchova.
Williams only returned to competitive tennis in July following a 16-month absence from the sport and had been granted a wild card into the main draw at Flushing Meadows.
But hopes of a fairytale run -- 28 years after her debut in the tournament -- ended in a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 loss to Muchova, who was not even born when Williams turned professional in 1994.
"I didn't win today but I'm very proud of the way I played," Williams, the US Open champion in 2000 and 2001, said.
"I don't think I've ever had a crowd on my side like that. I knew people around the world and around the United States were really rooting for me, and that felt great."
With the American exiting, 2022 men's champion Alcaraz took centre-stage in the late game in his first round tie against unseeded American Reilly Opelka.
The Spaniard arrived for the game sporting a striking new hairstyle -- a severe crew cut -- and he duly chopped down the 6ft 11in Opelka with a blistering 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 victory in 2hr 5min.
"Today was a really difficult one," Alcaraz said. "Reilly is a great, tough player. I couldn't get the rhythm that I wanted to get but I'm just really happy with what I did today. I did a great performance today."
Alcaraz is chasing a second US Open title following his maiden Grand Slam victory at the tournament three years ago.
Australian Open winner Madison Keys became the highest-ranked player to exit so far, the sixth seed losing to Mexico's Renata Zarazua 6-7 (10/12), 7-6 (7/3), 7-5.
"Today was the first time in a while where my nerves really got the better of me and it kind of became a little bit paralyzing," home hope Keys said.
"I was just slow, I wasn't seeing things the way that I wanted to, which I feel like resulted in a lot of bad decisions and lazy footwork."
Kvitova farewell
Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova bundled out rising Canadian star Victoria Mboko, defeating the teenager 6-3, 6-2.
Belgian 19th seed Elise Mertens ousted wild card Alyssa Ahn 6-1, 6-0 while Ukrainian 30th seed Dayana Yastremska exited in a 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 loss to Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova brought the curtain down on her career after a 6-1, 6-0 defeat to France's Diane Parry.
The 35-year-old Czech had already announced her intention to retire after the US Open, but was nonetheless overcome with emotion as she said farewell to the sport, breaking down in tears as she addressed fans afterwards.
"I hoped I would put on a better show today," Kvitova said. "It was tough to know it could be my last match, and emotionally it was very tough as well."
Qualifier Coleman Wong became the first man from Hong Kong to record a victory in a Grand Slam singles event in the Open era with a 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) defeat of US player Aleksandar Kovacevic.
It was the latest in a series of breakthrough results by young Asian players at this year's US Open.
Alexandra Eala of the Philippines -- who trains with Wong at Rafael Nadal's academy in Spain -- and Indonesia's Janice Tjen both won their first-round matches in the main draw.
British fifth seed Jack Draper needed four sets to get past Argentina's Federico Gomez, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (7/9), 6-2.
Other seeds to advance included Norway's Casper Ruud, the 12th seed, who downed Austria's Sebastian Ofner 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (7/5).
US 17th seed Frances Tiafoe beat Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3.
- AFP
Friday, 8 November 2024
Monday, 4 November 2024
Wednesday, 31 July 2024
IGA SWIATEK HIT BY BALL,
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| AP |
Iga Swiatek dropped to her knees on the court and clutched at her midsection after getting hit by a ball during a point in the Paris Olympics singles quarterfinals Wednesday, but it was her opponent, Danielle Collins of the United States, who stopped playing later in the third set.
Swiatek was leading 6-2, 1-6, 4-1 when Collins retired from the match after taking a medical timeout then getting another visit from a trainer.
Collins, a 30-year-old who was the runner-up at the 2022 Australian Open and has announced she will retire from elite-level tennis after this season, said she cramped and went into convulsions because of dehydration and exhaustion after competing in heat that reached 97 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday.
She blamed Olympic organizers for not having insulated water bottles, for the water not being cool enough and for not "prioritizing the health of the athletes."
"It's incredibly disappointing because you work so hard your whole life to make it to the Olympics, and this is my first and my last Olympics, and something like not having adequate water on court. That's really frustrating and it's really sad," Collins said.
In the opening game of the final set, with Collins serving at deuce, she directed a backhand down the middle of the court. Swiatek was up at the net and unable to get out of the way of the shot.
Swiatek looked stunned as she let go of her white racket and stopped down on the red clay at Court Suzanne Lenglen. Collins -- who asked, "Iga, are you OK?" -- walked around the net to check on Swiatek, and chair umpire Damien Dumusois climbed out of his perch to see how the world's No. 1 player was.
"I could not breathe for a moment. It hurt for a bit," Swiatek said. "But with the adrenaline that you have on court, you don't feel as much as you should."
Swiatek eventually rose and nodded to indicate she could continue.
Three points later, Collins pushed a forehand long and Swiatek had a break. Soon, she would break again to lead 3-0 in that set, and Collins left the court for a medical timeout that delayed the action for about five minutes. When they resumed, it quickly became 4-0, before Collins took a game. But then she conceded the match.
In the semifinals, Swiatek will face Zheng Qinwen, who ended the stellar career of Germany's Angelique Kerber in a titanic tussle that ended 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (6).
Zheng failed to convert three successive match points in the third set as Kerber clung on grimly in stifling heat but eventually prevailed, collapsing to the red clay in disbelief as Kerber's last shot struck the net.
Kerber, a three-time Grand Slam champion, announced last week she would retire after the Olympics.
"I've achieved everything I dreamt of," Kerber said. "I was No. 1, won Grand Slams, won a [silver] medal in Rio, so what more could you want in the end?"
Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic bowed out with a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. Schmiedlova has now eliminated both women who played in the final at the All England Club 2½ weeks ago. She defeated Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini in the third round Tuesday and now is the first tennis semifinalist from Slovakia at a Summer Games since 1988.
Krejcikova was seeded ninth in Paris and has fared well on the clay courts at Roland Garros, which hosts the French Open and is being used for tennis at these Olympics. Her first Grand Slam singles championship came at the French Open in 2021, when she also won the doubles title.
But with the heat at 90 degrees Fahrenheit and the air thick with humidity, Krejcikova looked listless down the stretch against Schmiedlova, a 29-year-old who is ranked 67th and owns one fourth-round appearance at a Slam. That came last year at Roland Garros.
By the end, Krejcikova appeared spent and was barely moving. She slapped a forehand into the net to finish the match, and Schmiedlova raised both arms overhead.
The two players accumulated nearly the exact same number of winners, with 18 for Krejcikova and 17 for Schmiedlova. The big difference was in unforced errors: 32 by Krejcikova, more than twice as many as Schmiedlova's 15.
That included five double-faults for Krejcikova, who needed to deal with 11 break points and lost five of her service games.
Next for Schmiedlova will be a match Thursday against Donna Vekic of Croatia, who beat Coco Gauff in the third round, or Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, with a place in the gold medal final on the line.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Saturday, 13 July 2024
Friday, 12 July 2024
Wednesday, 17 January 2024
DJOKOVIČ,SABALENKA GO THROUGH AFTER JAUBER OUSTED TALENTED TEEN
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| Reuters |
Novak Djokovic fought off another feisty challenge to reach the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday after women's champion Aryna Sabalenka made more serene progress and Ons Jabeur crashed out at the hands of a schoolgirl.
Top 10 seeds Coco Gauff, Barbora Krejcikova, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas all got through their second-round contests in varying conditions as Melbourne lived up to its reputation for changeable weather.
Rain washed out more than three hours of play on the outer courts at the start of the day but the skies had long cleared by the time Djokovic took to the court where he has won 10 of his 24 Grand Slam titles.
As in his four-hour first round clash against qualifier Dino Prizmic, the 36-year-old Serbian looked in full pomp in the opening set against Australian Alexei Popyrin but lost the second.
The aggressive Popyrin, backed by a crowd in full voice, had set points in the third set but Djokovic saved them and, riled by an exchange with a fan in the crowd, ran out a 6-3 4-6 7-6(4) 6-3 winner.
Monday, 10 October 2022
Monday, 14 June 2021
Wednesday, 9 June 2021
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