Established 1961 13 Sports Thursday, May 10, 2018 Halep sails past Mertens at Madrid Open, Del Potro wins on return

Kvitova beats Monica Puig to register her seventh consecutive win

MADRID: Reigning champion Simona Halep edged reach the third round for the first time in her career. closer to a third consecutive Madrid Open title by The two-time champion was in trouble beating Belgium’s Elise Mertens in the second round when she dropped serve in the fifth game of the second yesterday. set, but won 10 of the next 12 games to race to victory. Halep, the winner here in 2016 and 2017, was made Dangerous Russian Daria Kasatkina awaits the to work harder in the second set on Manolo Santana world number three in the last 16 after a comfortable but the world number one’s 6-0, 6-3 victory was never win over Sorana Cirstea. Fourth seed and reigning in doubt. Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic will Italian Open champion slumped to a sur- now await Halep in the last 16 as the Romanian contin- prise 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4 loss to Spaniard Carla Suarez ues to prepare for the , where she has Navarro in the second round. twice gone the distance The Ukrainian world only to finish runner-up. number four will now pre- Halep won the first eight pare for the defence of her games in a row to lead 6-0, title in Rome next week, 2-0, with her clay-court while Suarez Navarro will counter-attacking too Muguruza stages face Bernarda Pera, after strong for the 22-year-old the American brushed aside Mertens to handle. a comeback to 6-4, 6-3. Mertens offered some late Juan Martin del Potro resistance as her oppo- beat Vekic made a winning start to his nent’s concentration clay-court season by seeing wavered, but a double fault off Damir Dzumhur in his confirmed Halep’s victory first match since losing in in a brief one hour and 11 the Miami Open semi-finals minutes. to John Isner in March. “I think I played well again,” Halep said. “It is the The former US Open champion, who has won two Petra Kvitova second match of the tournament. I have a great feeling.” titles this year including at Indian Wells, had far too Earlier, Petra Kvitova battled to a 6-3, 7-6 (10/8) victo- much for his Bosnian opponent in a comfortable 6-3, ry over ’s Monica Puig to register her sev- 6-3 win. Del Potro admitted that his persistent wrist Argentinian, twice a semi-finalist in Madrid, will take on break of the match in the 11th game, and despite seeing enth consecutive win. Kvitova’s hard-hitting game injuries make clay more difficult for him than other Dusan Lajovic in the last 16 after the Serbian edged out Dimitrov fight back to force a decider, he closed out a lends itself more to the faster surfaces but after lifting surfaces. Richard Gasquet 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/1). 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 win. the title on clay in Prague at the weekend, she has “On clay you can’t use the slice much, which is a World number four Grigor Dimitrov was beaten in a Elsewhere, South Korean rising star Chung Hyeon maintained her momentum here and will meet Estonia’s blow because I’ve been using it more for my wrist tight second-round encounter by former Wimbledon suffered a shock 6-0, 6-2 first-round thrashing at the Anett Kontaveit in round three. Home favourite problems,” he said. “For now my wrist is responding runner-up Milos Raonic, who is playing his first tourna- hands of Dutchman Robin Haase. Chung’s fellow Garbine Muguruza staged a comeback from a set and a well, I’m still having treatment every day. ment since withdrawing from the Monte Carlo Masters semi-finalist Kyle Edmund beat break down to beat Donna Vekic 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 and I’m calm, because I’ve been doing well.” The with injury. The big-serving Canadian grabbed the first Daniil. — AFP

Woods’ best golf will never be repeated: Mickelson England’s Wood ends IPL stint to boost PONTE VEDRA BEACH: Tiger Woods in his prime played the best golf ever seen and it is highly unlikely those heights will ever be reached Test prospects again, Phil Mickelson said yesterday ahead of this week’s Players Championship. LONDON: England fast bowler Mark Wood has returned home Mickelson traded friendly barbs with his old from the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) to play for rival during their respective press conference at Durham in a bid to keep his place in the Test side, the 28-year- TPC Sawgrass, their relaxed demeanour a far cry old has said. Wood played for the Chennai Super Kings in their from the days when, as the older American opening win against champions Mumbai Indians but was not admitted, “it sucked” to have to face Woods on picked in their next nine matches. the course. “The decision has been made for me to return home to “I don’t think (we) will ever see that level of England to prepare for the English summer,” Wood wrote in an play again,” 47-year-old Mickelson said. “It was Instagram post. “Having worked so hard to get back in the Test the most remarkable golf in the history of the team, and because I’m not currently in the CSK side, I am com- game and I think unrepeatable. I think it was that ing home to play for Durham to hopefully put my name in the good.” The once icy relationship between the hat for test match selection.” multiple major winners has thawed since they hit Wood has played 11 Tests for England, the last against New their 40s, and they appeared genuinely pleased to Zealand at Christchurch from March 30-April 3, and has taken be grouped together for the first two rounds here PONTE VEDRA BEACH: Tiger Woods of the United States plays a shot from a bunker during prac- 28 wickets. He will be available for Durham’s County on Thursday and Friday.They have played togeth- tice rounds prior to THE PLAYERS Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass yester- Championship match against Derbyshire this week and will hope er only once at the Players Championship-in the day in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. — AFP to make the England squad for the two-test series against third round in 2001 — when Woods was at the Pakistan starting later this month. peak of the powers that brought him 14 major “It’s a massive boost to have Mark available for Friday. On the championships in barely a decade. ally happening, that he was hitting some of the Asked about their rivalry, Woods smiled and occasions we’ve had him available to play for us over the last It was the era when Woods won the 2000 U.S. shots that he was hitting.” suggested reporters kept an eye on the “big pic- few years, he’s made some great contributions,” Durham head Open at Pebble Beach by 15 strokes, a record The hype over their grouping this week-they ture.” “How many times have we won on tour?” coach Jon Lewis said in a statement. performance Mickelson suspects some younger will play with another American in Rickie Fowler- the 42-year-old said, fully aware of the answer. “He comes back to us with a big point to prove and is eager players do not fully appreciate. “I look at 2000 as prompted Mickelson to playfully suggest sidelin- Woods has won 79 times on the PGA Tour, sec- to nail down his spot in the England test side. “The IPL didn’t being kind of the benchmark at the U.S. Open as ing the other 142 players and deciding the title in ond only to Sam Snead’s 82 but well clear of give him the playing opportunities he would have liked but he being the greatest golf I’ve ever witnessed and I a head-to-head winner-takes-all match. Mickelson’s none-too-shabby 42 victories. has still learnt from great players and this is a move which suits believe has ever been played,” said Mickelson. “Fifteen years ago my record against him Chances are neither will add to those tallies this all parties.” — Reuters “And it sucked to have to play against him,” sucked, and now it’s okay,” Mickelson said, giving week, but for two days at least they will hog the Mickelson continued. “You look at it and say ‘how a bit of needle. “I’m doing better as time has gone limelight, two aging heavyweights trying to keep am I going to beat this?’. There was a stretch on.” Mickelson has won five majors but also pace with younger rivals who carry less baggage- there that it was hard to imagine that it was actu- recorded 18 runner-up or third place finishes. and a lot less major silverware. — Reuters Struggling Chinese Pakistan’s Malik football club offers wants to play on $1.5m cash per win until 2020 World T20 SHANGHAI: A struggling Chinese football club will dish out more than $1.5 million in cash per game to inspire its demoralised players to victory-but they’ll be docked money if they lose. The carrot-and- ISLAMABAD: Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik stick approach is being applied at Guizhou Hengfeng, who are bottom has set his sights on playing at least until the 2020 of the Chinese Super League (CSL) after losing eight of their first nine World Twenty20 and the 36-year-old is aware games, including five on the bounce. that he will have to perform consistently to Club boss Wen Wei treated the team and staff to a lavish dinner on achieve that goal. Tuesday, two days after they were thrashed 5-1 at Tianjin Teda, and The former Pakistan captain retired from test proposed an eye-watering victory bonus of 10 million yuan ($1.5 mil- cricket at the end of 2015, three tests after earn- lion) for each of the next two games in a desperate effort to stop the ing a shock return to the side after a gap of five rot, local media said. In the event of a long-awaited win, the cash will years. He has, however, been a regular member of be waiting in the dressing room after the games, the Guizhou Pakistan’s limited-overs side. Metropolitan Daily cited Wen as saying. “The 2019 World Cup, 50-over cricket, is my The team will earn two million yuan for a draw, but be fined a col- last World Cup, but I want to play in the World lective one million if they lose, or about 33,000 yuan apiece. T20 in 2020, that is my goal for Twenty20 crick- Guizhou’s 30 players as well as staff at the dinner accepted Wen’s et,” Malik said in a statement from the Caribbean proposal, the newspaper said, but they face a tough test at home to Premier League T20 tournament. CSL leaders Shanghai SIPG on Saturday followed by a trip to fellow “These are the two big goals which I’m looking Shoaib Malik strugglers Dalian Yifang the following weekend. at - let’s see how it goes. If I’m consistently per- Property magnate Wen said he was trying to “unite the team” forming then I want to play these two World coached by Spaniard Gregorio Manzano. “I want my team to forget Cups.” A middle order batsman and also bowls the Guyana Amazon Warriors for the 2018 edi- “But on that particular day performance is the all the losses and think about hard-won victories,” Wen told the off-spin, Malik played 35 tests for Pakistan and tion, which will run from Aug. 8-Sept. 16. key of any cricketer and that’s what I’m looking newspaper. Club officials could not be reached for comment. has represented the team in 261 one-day interna- “Guyana is more like you’re playing in the sub- for. “Obviously, if you’re playing for a new team Chinese football has in recent years made headlines with a series of tionals and 95 Twenty20 matches. continent I think,” said Malik, who has also the expectations are a lot from you. When they expensive big-name foreign signings, with SIPG shelling out an He played for the Barbados Tridents in the played in the Indian Premier League and have seen someone that did well for a longer run Asian-record 60 million euros last year to buy Brazilian attacking CPL for the last five years but has now joined Australia’s Big Bash League. the expectations are obviously high.” — Reuters midfielder Oscar from Chelsea. — AFP