The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Serena Williams advances to Rogers Cup final
- Yihan out to bury the ghost of last year’s early defeat in Paris
- Two urgent steps needed to stop Koo-Tan rot
| Serena Williams advances to Rogers Cup final Posted: 13 Aug 2011 06:37 PM PDT TORONTO (AP) - Serena Williams advanced to the final in the Rogers Cup, beating fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 6-3 on Saturday night. Williams, playing just her fourth tournament since being sidelined for a year by injuries and illness, will face 10th-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia in the final. Stosur beat Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 5-7, 6-2. Stosur broke Radwanska three times in the first set, but the Pole rallied to take the second when Stosur double-faulted. The Australian broke Radwanska to go up 5-2 in the third, then won the match with an ace. The loss ended a nine-match winning streak for Radwanska, who claimed her fifth WTA title last week in Carlsbad, California. Stosur will return to the top 10 in the WTA rankings next week. "I think it's always for any person playing a professional sport like tennis, that benchmark is the top 10, and then you make your top five, and from there, you never know what's possible," Stosur said. "But I was definitely very excited when I broke the top 10 the first time." Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Yihan out to bury the ghost of last year’s early defeat in Paris Posted: 13 Aug 2011 06:33 PM PDT CHINA'S Wang Yihan is still haunted by the painful memory of losing in the second round to Eriko Hirose of Japan at last year's World Championships in Paris. And the 23-year-old Yihan plans to make amends for that disappointment when she goes into action in today's final – and also to hold on to China's tradition of excellence in the women's singles event. China have not lost the women's singles title since 2001, although for the first time, they are under serious threat of losing it. Yihan will take on Taiwan's Cheng Shao-chieh in the final today. Shao-chieh dumped top seed Wang Shixian of China in the quarter-finals before beating Germany's Juliane Schenk (Ger) 21-18, 21-6 in the semi-finals yesterday. Yihan, however, feels that she will not be under any pressure in the final after defeating third seed Wang Xin 21-14, 21-14 in yesterday's semi-final. "I was happy when I made it to the semi-finals. Now, I am in the final. "I will just go out there and enjoy the game," said 2009 All-England champion Yihan. "I hurt my right knee early this year and skipped the All-England but I am in better shape now. "That is important." In the mixed doubles, top seeds Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei of China marched into the final after compatriots Xu Chen-Ma Jin conceded a walkover due to Ma Jin's ankle injury. Zhang-Zhao will take on the winners of the match between England's Chris Adcock-Imogen Bankier and Indonesians Tantowi Ahmad-Lilyana Natsir. Related Stories: |
| Two urgent steps needed to stop Koo-Tan rot Posted: 13 Aug 2011 06:31 PM PDT BETTER communication and changes to the training programme – these are the immediate steps expected to be taken to stop the rot in men's doubles shuttlers Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong's game. The duo showed an obvious lack of power and speed in their 17-21, 14-21 loss to South Koreans Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong in the quarter-finals of the World Championships on Friday. It was their fifth defeat by the second ranked Koreans and it denied them the chance of at least reaching their second final in a row. The Malaysans lost to Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng of China in last year's final in Paris. National doubles coach Rexy Mainaky wants a more effective "two-way communication" so that he could address even the smallest problem faced by the players as he seeks to iron out their weaknesses before the London Olympics in August next year. After their latest defeat, the players revealed several factors that led them to their exit from the world meet, including the lack of quality sparring partners. Kien Keat-Boon Heong spar with Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Hoon Thien How, Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Ong Soon Hock and Mohd Lutfi Zaim Abdul Khalid-Vountus Indra Mawan in the elite squad daily. The back-up squad, under coach Tan Kim Her, train at a different time. But both squads do have combined sessions twice a week. "We will give them more quality sparring if that is what they want. It is important for the players to tell the coaches what they want. We will work on improving our two-way communication," said Rexy. "They are not lacking in skill but we have to find new ways to improve their strength and movement on court. I hope the players will quickly recover from this setback." Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) secretary Ng Chin Chai, who is also acting as team manager here, said they would review the player's training programme. "It's obvious that our players lack speed and power. "The Koreans were faster on court and held the upper hand most of the time. "We will get more details from the coaches and players over this defeat," said Chin Chai. Related Stories: |
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