WTA

Jabeur eases through as Kovinic ousts Rogers for consecutive Charleston semis

By Sports Desk April 16, 2021

Top seed Ons Jabeur moved through to the MUSC Health Women's Open semi-finals after easing past Nao Hibino.

Jabeur – eyeing her first WTA Tour title – made light work of Hibino 6-0 6-1 in Charleston on Friday.

Next up for the Tunisian is high-flying Danka Kovinic at the WTA 250 tournament.

For the second week in a row, Kovinic reached the semi-finals in Charleston after taking down hometown favourite and third seed Shelby Rogers 7-5 6-1.

Maria Camila Osorio Serrano, who claimed her maiden singles title at the Copa Colsanitas in Bogota last week, was leading 6-4 1-0 when Clara Tauson retired.

Meanwhile, Astra Sharma defeated 15-year-old Czech Linda Fruhvirtova 6-4 6-3.

Related items

  • Andy Murray says deciding when to retire ‘not an easy decision’ Andy Murray says deciding when to retire ‘not an easy decision’

    Andy Murray has revealed he is still unsure exactly when this summer he will retire as a tennis player.

    Murray, 36, said last month that he “did not plan on playing much past this summer” and in an interview with The Times he explained why he cannot be more specific about when he hangs up his racket.

    He said: “I would love the chance to play in another Olympics, but also genuinely only if I felt like there was a chance of winning a medal.

    “I’m also very conscious that because of how amazing my experiences at the Olympics have been, I would want to be there by right and not just take one of the other guys’ spots, because it is a brilliant opportunity.

    “We have top doubles players (Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski are ranked inside the world’s top 10) and also Jack (Draper), Cam (Norrie) and Evo (Dan Evans) in singles as well.”

    Murray, a three-time grand slam winner, who held the number one spot in the men’s singles rankings for a total of 41 weeks in the same era as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, could focus on the doubles at the Paris Olympics, which will be played on his least favourite surface, clay.

    He reached the quarter-finals in partnership with Salisbury at Tokyo 2020 and added: “When I played with Joe, I had the conversation beforehand with him that my feeling was there was a greater chance of me winning a medal in doubles than singles.”

    Murray said he was “bored” of being questioned about when he will retire, saying: “It’s been happening since Wimbledon last year in most weeks. It’s something that I’ve had to talk about and entertain.

    “Obviously at some stage the end will come. It’s not an easy decision to know exactly when that will be or when it should be.”

  • Carlos Alcaraz defeats Daniil Medvedev to win second Indian Wells title Carlos Alcaraz defeats Daniil Medvedev to win second Indian Wells title

    Carlos Alcaraz defeated Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (5) 6-1 on Sunday to win his second-straight BNP Paribas Open title at Indian Wells.

    The world number two took only one hour and 42 minutes to claim victory, marking Alcaraz’s first title since his triumph at Wimbledon last year.

    The 20-year-old Spaniard began the Indian Wells tournament with a 6-3 record on the season and an injured ankle, which he sustained during his latest outing in Rio de Janeiro.

    Medvedev started strong in the match’s opening rounds, establishing a 3-0 lead as Alcaraz’s errors began to pile up.

    It did not take long for Alcaraz to find his feet though, breaking back before matching the world number four to force a tie-break.

    He almost let an early lead in the tie-break slip by, but recovered again to take the first set in just over an hour.

    Once he had broken out in front, the world number two was barely troubled in the second set en route to retaining his Indian Wells title.

    He told reporters on-court after the match that the win had bolstered his confidence following his Rio injury scare.

    “Winning this tournament means a lot to me because the week before it began, I had a lot of doubts about my ankle,” Alcaraz said.

    “I remember my first practice here was just 30 minutes with no movement, and probably the first practice with really good tennis players was really tough for me because I thought I was not going to play my best.”

    He added: “I was not feeling well with my ankle, so a lot of doubts for me. But once I stepped on the court, the first round, I started to feel better.”

  • Iga Swiatek secures title at Indian Wells with final victory over Maria Sakkari Iga Swiatek secures title at Indian Wells with final victory over Maria Sakkari

    World number one Iga Swiatek coasted to victory over Maria Sakkari to win the BNP Paribas Open final.

    In a repeat of the 2022 final at Indian Wells, Swiatek proved too strong and won her second WTA title of the year with a straightforward 6-4 6-0 success.

    Swiatek, 22, never looked in trouble and once again showed why she has spent nearly two years atop the women’s rankings.

    The Polish star raced into a lead as stars including Zendaya and Tom Holland watched on, sealing the opening set with a perfect forehand drive after Sakkari had briefly looked to fight back by breaking to level at 3-3.

    The second set was even more of a one-sided affair as Greece’s Sakkari, beaten in the final two years ago 6-4 6-1, could not win a game this time around.

    Swiatek needed just 20 minutes to wrap it up and now plots victory at the Miami Open.

    “Every year I come here, I feel a really positive vibe,” she said on court following her latest success.

    “I want to thank my team, for every little thing we work on, which ends up working. For sure we’re going to celebrate – many things to celebrate.”

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.