Tennis
SERENA WILLIAMS’ FED CUP RECORD ENDS
World No. 41 Anastasija Sevastova handed Serena Williams a shock first Fed Cup singles loss on Saturday but Latvia eventually fell 3-2 to the United States in the qualifier.
Sevastova won 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 7-6 (7/4) to end Williams’ perfect Fed Cup record at 14 matches.
“We were playing in the USA so obviously the crowd was going to be for Serena. I just tried to give it my best,” Sevastova said of her win at the Angel of the Wings arena.
Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, bounced back from losing the first set by cruising through the second set in 33 minutes. But she was outplayed on the big points for a second tiebreak in the decider.
Sevastova used her powerful serve to deliver aces at key moments, and a precision forehand kept Williams on the move as the American ran out of gas in the final moments of the 2hr 25min marathon.
Williams looked fatigued in her first Fed Cup singles match in four years. She had played doubles with sister Venus in her last tournament appearance in 2018.
“It was a really intense match,” said the 38-year-old. “There were lots of points and lots of running.”
Her latest loss comes just weeks after she was shocked in the Australian Open last 32 by China’s world No. 27 Wang Qiang.
Earlier, former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko had kept Latvia alive with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 win over new Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in just under two hours.
The Americans had gone into the second day with a 2-0 lead after Kenin defeated Sevastova and Williams beat Ostapenko on Friday.
“I was fighting until the last point,” said Ostapenko. “I knew it was going to be a very tough match and the key thing for me was just to play aggressive.”
Kenin made amends in the deciding doubles match, partnering Bethanie Mattek-Sands to defeat Ostapenko and Sevastova 6-4, 6-0.
“We are very happy to have won this match against a tough opponent,” US team captain Kathy Rinaldi said after the record 18-time champions qualified for the April 14-19 Fed Cup Finals in Budapest. “They could easily have been contenders for Budapest too.”
The Fed Cup has followed the men’s Davis Cup competition by adopting a multi-nation finals tournament in one city.
As well as trying to increase the exposure of the women’s team event run by the International Tennis Federation, the extra TV revenue means an US$18 million (S$25 million) prize fund, of which US$12 million goes to the players and US$6 million to the federations.
Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, Slovakia, Germany, Russia, Belarus, France, Australia, Czech Republic and hosts Hungary complete the 12-nation showdown.
-AFP/Reuters
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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