Page 38 - min.vos 7 jan,2016

SPORTS A19
Djokovic, Nadal
in quarterfinals
at Qatar Open JOHN PYE
SANDRA HARWITT
Associated Press
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Novak
Djokovic and Rafael Nadal
advanced to the quarter-
finals of the Qatar Open
on Wednesday. Djokovic
captured a 6-2, 6-2 sec-
ond-round win against
Fernando Verdasco, mark-
ing his 17th straight victory
against a Spanish oppo-
nent, dating to 2014. “I’m
very pleased with the way
I have started this season,
two matches, straight sets,”
Djokovic said. “You know,
Verdasco was a former
top-10 player, somebody
that has a lot of weapons
in his game.” Nadal looked
confident during his 6-3, 6-2
win against Robin Haase,
which improved his record
against the Dutchman to
7-0. “I played at a very high
level against a player that I
think played well for a lot of
moments,” Nadal said.
Top-seeded Djokovic and
second-seeded Nadal
saved two break points
each on serve.
Djokovic will meet eighth-
seeded Leonardo Mayer of
Argentina in the quarters.
Mayer defeated Pable An-
dujar of Spain 6-2, 6-4.
“He’s very intelligent ten-
nis player,” Djokovic said
of Mayer. “He knows how
to anticipate well on the
court and serves very well.”
Nadal will next play Andrey
Kuznetsov of Russia, who
earned his quarterfinal
spot with a 7-6 (6), 6-1 win
against Ricardas Berankis
of Lithuania. “He plays fast,
and he will be a very tough
opponent,” Nadal said. “I
know I have to keep play-
ing the same way, and I
hope that I can keep do-
ing it.” Third-seeded Tomas
Berdych beat Damir Dzum-
hur of Bosnia and Herze-
govina 6-0, 6-4.
Berdych will play British
qualifier Kyle Edmund, who
outlasted Daniel Munoz De
La Nava 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Seventh-seeded Jeremy
Chardy of France de-
feated countryman Paul-
Henri Mathieu 6-2, 6-4, and
lined up Ilya Marchenko
of Ukraine, who defeated
Teymuraz Gabashvili of
Russia 6-4, 6-2.q
Thursday 7 January 2016
Azarenka advances to quarterfinals in Brisbane
Ivanovic — the top two will be ready for the Austra- Gavrilova remained un-
seeded players at the ASB lian Open.” beaten with a 2-1 win over
AP Sports Writer Classic in Auckland, New Fourth-seeded Angelique Britain, which dropped to
Zealand — were beaten in Kerber beat Madison 1-1.
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — the first round. Brengle 6-3, 6-0 to set up Andy Murray lost to Kyrgios
Azarenka conceded an a meeting with Anasta- 6-4, 7-6 (6) before Heath-
After two injury-interrupted
seasons, Victoria Azarenka
is emerging from the shad-
ows of some highly-ranked
rivals who have either
withdrawn from Australian
Open warmup events or
lost in the early rounds.
The two-time Australian
Open champion reached
the quarterfinals of the
Brisbane International —
a tournament she won in
2009 — with a 6-3, 6-2 win
over Ysaline Bonaventure.
Bonaventure, a lucky loser
from qualifying, was cast
into the second round on
Wednesday as a replace-
ment for top-seeded Simo-
na Halep, who had a bye
before withdrawing from a
scheduled second-round
match with Azarenka be-
cause of an Achilles ten-
don problem.
The No. 2-ranked Halep
withdrew within an hour of
defending champion Ma-
ria Sharapova pulling out of
the tournament with a left Victoria Azarenka of Belarus plays a shot in a match at the Brisbane International tennis tourna-
ment in Brisbane, Australia. Azarenka reached the quarterfinals in Brisbane with a 6-3, 6-2 win over
forearm injury. Ysaline Bonaventure.
Third-seeded Garbine (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)
Muguruza joined the Bris-
bane injury procession late early service break against sia Pavlyuchenkova, while er Watson came back to
Bonaventure and had sev- Andrea Petkovic had a beat Gavrilova 6-7 (2), 6-2,
Wednesday when she re- en double-faults in the first 7-5, 6-4 win over Ekaterina 7-5. In the deciding mixed
set, but otherwise domi- Makarova to move into doubles, Kyrgios and Gavr-
tired in the second set of nated after converting her a quarterfinal against U.S. ilova prevailed 6-2, 6-7 (0),
fifth break-point chance in qualifier Samantha Craw- 11-9, with the British team
her match against Varvara a fourth game that lasted ford, who had an upset 7-5, saving three match points
more than 17 minutes and 7-5 win over seventh-seed- before Kyrgios clinched it
Lepchenko. went to deuce 11 times. ed Belinda Bencic. with an ace. Germany lev-
Azarenka who dropped to In the men’s draw, sec- eled its record at 1-1 with a
Muguruza lost the first set a year-end No. 22 ranking ond-seeded Kei Nishikori 2-1 win over France, which
in December after being opened with a 6-3, 6-4 win lost for the second time.
7-6 (9) before having to restricted to just 23 events over Mikhail Kukushkin to Alexander Zverev gave
across 2014 and ‘15, is work- move into the quarterfinals Germany a 1-0 lead with
quit with a left foot injury. ing her way back into form. against seventh-seeded a 6-2, 6-2 win over Kenny
“I definitely missed playing Bernard Tomic, a 7-6 (6), De Schepper, but Caroline
The Spanish player called since I haven’t in a while,” 4-6, 7-6 (4) winner over Garcia beat Sabine Lis-
she said. As for the broader Radek Stepanek. icki 6-2, 7-6 (5) to send the
for a trainer and was grant- issue of injuries, she said: At the Hopman Cup mixed match to a mixed doubles
“I’m just going to try to take teams event in Perth, the decider, which the Ger-
ed a medical timeout, but care of myself right now, Australia Green team of man pair won 6-4, 6-7 (6),
and hopefully everybody Nick Kyrgios and Daria 10-6. q
retired after losing the first
game of the second set.
Top-ranked Serena Williams
withdrew from the Hopman
Cup in Perth after skipping
her first match and retiring
in the second set of the
U.S. team’s second against
Australia Gold because
of inflammation in her left
knee.
Venus Williams and Ana
Stan Wawrinka advances to Chennai quarterfinals
CHENNAI, India (AP) — ing the match. beat Ante Pavic of Croatia Also, second-seeded Kevin
Stan Wawrinka advanced “It was the first match of 7-6 (5), 6-1. Anderson of South Africa
to the quarterfinals of the the year for me and it was Fourth-seeded Roberto withdrew from the tourna-
Chennai Open by beating important to be ready for Bautista Agut of Spain also ment with a knee injury
Russian teenager Andrey that,” Wawrinka said. “Ev- won, beating John Mill- after a first-round bye. Al-
Rublev 6-3, 6-2 Wednesday. ery tournament is a chal- man of Australia 6-4, 6-1 exander Kudryavtsev of
The top-seeded Swiss play- lenge and he (Rublev) has to set up a match against Russia replaced him in the
er, a two-time defending very good potential.” Borna Coric of Croatia. The draw and will play Ramku-
champion aiming for a Wawrinka will next face 19-year-old Coric defeated mar Ramanathan of India
fourth title in Chennai, did fifth-seeded Guillermo Gar- Austin Krajicek of the United in the second round on
not face a break point dur- cia-Lopez of Spain, who States 6-2, 7-5. Thursday.q