Tennis
SERENA WILLIAMS CRASHES OUT OF AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Serena Williams has sensationally departed the Australian Open, falling to Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic in a three set thriller after succumbing to what appeared to be an ankle injury late in the match.
Williams was rocked early in the piece when she offered a juicy break to Pliskova in her 50th quarter-final appearance.
The Czech star took a 3-1 advantage in the first set and life looked like it was about to get a whole lot worse for Williams as she faced three break points. However, the American fought her way back to deuce and finally won the game to keep herself in the contest at 2-3.
Pliskova
may have missed the opportunity to go up a double break but she still had
enough composure to take her chances on serve as she wrapped up the first set
6-4.
Williams hit big trouble in the second as Pliskova broke her serve at 3-2 to sit a handful of points away from the semi — but the 23-time champ wasn’t giving it up that easy.
Williams bounced back from a litany of unforced errors and immediately broke her way back into the match.
She barely broke a stride as she rocketed through to take the second 6-4.
Then Pliskova’s problems multiplied. After taking the first set, the Czech star began slipping away under the weight of Williams, who was in the box seat at 5-1 to serve for the match.
But then disaster struck. An awkward change of movement from Williams looked to have damaged her ankle and restricted her movement for the remainder of the set.
Pliskova pounced on the opportunity and fought back from four match points to even up the third to 5-5.
Pliskova broke back once more and proceeded to serve out the astonishing match 7-5. Incredibly, Williams failed to win a single point on her serve after hurting her ankle.
Pliskova looked frazzled after the extraordinary comeback from 5-1 down in the deciding set, admiting her “mind was already in the locker room”.
“It was tough because she was really playing well. I didn’t have many chances in the third set and I was too passive, mentally down,” she said. “I said let’s try this game 5-2, maybe I will have a couple of chances. She did get a little bit shaky in the end. So I took my chances and I won.”
Argentina’s 36-year-old Marco Trungelliti proved tennis dreams do not come with an expiration date when he became the oldest first-time tour-level finalist in the Open Era after beating the top seed at the Grand Prix Hassan II semi-finals in Marrakech on Saturday.
Trungelliti, who came through the tournament’s qualifiers, upset Italy’s defending champion Luciano Darderi 6-4 7-6(2) to break the previous record held by Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic, who reached his first final aged 34 years in 2015.
Darderi, ranked 19 in the world, was only six-years-old when Trungelliti turned pro in 2008. With the victory, Trungelliti secured just his second career top-20 win.
“Of course, I believed it, that’s one of the reasons that I’m here. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible,” Trungelliti said in the on-court interview.
“I’ve worked a lot, me and my team and also my wife, my kid. We all believed in breaking the record basically and that’s exactly what we have done now.”
The milestone caps a remarkable journey for Trungelliti, who made his first ATP Tour semi-final in 2018 in Umag, Croatia – 402 weeks ago.
Having entered the tournament ranked 117 in the world, Trungelliti’s breakthrough week has already guaranteed he will crack the top 100 for the first time. He is currently ranked number 75 in the live rankings.
“It’s been happening the whole week, leaving the court with a victory,” added Trungelliti, who has dropped only one set at the tournament. “So hopefully (there) is one more to go.”
He will face Rafael Jodar on Sunday after the Spaniard prevented an all-Argentine final with a 6-2 6-1 victory over Camilo Ugo Carabelli.
-Reuters
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Serena Williams has been listed as eligible to return to tennis by the sport’s drug-testing body (ITIA) as of February 22, though it remains unclear whether the 23-time Grand Slam champion will make a stunning comeback to the women’s tour.
The 44-year-old raised eyebrows late last year after rejoining the tennis anti-doping testing pool, though she denied at the time the move signalled she was preparing to return to the sport she dominated for nearly two decades.
She reignited speculation last month when she deflected questions about a possible return during an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show.
The Women’s Tennis Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours.
Williams, who won her last Grand Slam singles title in 2017, has not competed since the 2022 U.S. Open.
-Reuters
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Serena Williams has re-entered the tennis anti-doping testing pool but the 23-times Grand Slam champion denied on Tuesday that the move had anything to do with her making a return to the sport she dominated for nearly two decades.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency confirmed to Reuters that Williams, who has not competed since the 2022 U.S. Open, was among the list of players in its testing pool, which requires individuals to provide their whereabouts at any given time, every day, and participate in random testing
But as the story of 44-year-old Williams’ inclusion on the list, first reported earlier on Tuesday by The Athletic, gained traction and sparked talk about her potential return, the tennis great took to social media to deny a comeback was in her plans.
“Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy,” Williams wrote on X.
Her agent did not immediately respond to an email from Reuters asking why the player had re-entered the testing pool.
Williams’ name appears on the ITIA website’s list of retired players and would be able to return to a sanctioned event after making herself available for out-of-competition testing for at least six months.
Last week former world number one Williams posted a series of photos on Instagram showing herself on a tennis court with her youngest daughter, Adira River, whom she gave birth to in August 2023.
In August 2022, ahead of her final U.S. Open, Williams announced in a Vogue article that she was “evolving away from tennis.”
Williams, who won her last Grand Slam singles title in 2017, had been chasing an elusive 24th crown that would have drawn her level with Australian Margaret Court, who holds the record.
The American came tantalisingly close to achieving that feat, featuring in four major finals since giving birth to her first daughter, Olympia, in 2017.
-Reuters
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