Halep, Zvonareva march on in Shenzhen, Nishikori advances
Print Edition
TOP seed Simona Halep cruised into the quarterfinals of Shenzhen Open yesterday by defeating Russian wildcard Natalia Vikhlyantseva 6-2, 6-2 in the second round.
Halep, last year’s French Open finalist, will meet Aleksandra Krunic after the Serbian qualifier came back from 6-3, 5-2 down to beat Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-1. Krunic saved six match points.
Vera Zvonareva, who ousted third-seeded Peng Shuai in the first round, continued her fine form when she beat Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey 6-3, 7-6 (5), winning five of the last six games.
Zvonareva, a 12-time winner on tour and two-time grand slam finalist, lined up Timea Bacsinszky in her first quarterfinal in almost three years.
No. 8 seed Bacsinszky had few problems in dispatching Karin Knapp of Italy 7-5, 6-2.
Tereza Smitkova booked her quarterfinal against fellow Czech and second seed Petra Kvitova by defeating another compatriot Katerina Siniakova 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.
In Australia, Kei Nishikori beat Steve Johnson 6-4, 7-5 at the Brisbane International yesterday to start a season in which he wants to be in the vanguard aiming to end the dominance of the old guard in men’s tennis.
The Japanese player set Asian benchmarks during a breakout 2014, reaching his first grand slam final at the US Open and rising to a year-end No. 5 ranking. Second-seeded Nishikori needed 80 minutes to advance from the second round, serving out on his fourth match point against Johnson.
He said he’s feeling his way into the new year, knowing that expectations on him are high. The Australian Open, the first major of the season, starts in 12 days in Melbourne. Just a bit too early, he thinks, for a first grand slam title.
“I might need a couple more years to (become a) really good player, but I’m getting really close,” he said. “So hopefully I can bring more good news to Japan.”
Fourth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov saw off two match points in the tiebreaker before beating regular practice partner Jerome Chardy of France 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(8). Bernard Tomic advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (2), 6-1 victory over fellow Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, while Martin Klizan of Slovakia beat seventh-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 1-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (7).
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
