Sport 22 Ashburton Guardian
Thursday, January 16, 2014
www.guardianonline.co.nz
■ TENNIS
■ CRICKET
Valuable experience in Chch
Black Caps chase down Windies for series win
By Jonathan leask
jonathan.l@theguardian.co.nz
There was some success and plenty of valuable experience for the eight Mid Canterbury tennis players at the National 12s Championship at Wilding Park in Christchurch. Over the five-day tournament, the first time a national event has been played at the Christchurch facility since the February 2011 earthquakes, the Mid Canterbury players met stiff opposition to get a taste of the next level of tennis. The 11th seeded Tessa McCann, the only seeded Mid Canterbury player, went down
in the second round after a first round bye, with Sophie and Millie Ness both ousted in the first round. In the consolation draw McCann marched through four games to reach the semi-finals only to be beaten by fifth seed Sarah Weekley 1-6, 1-6. Weekley was also responsible for Sophie Ness departing in the fourth round, while Millie lost in the second round. McCann teamed up with Ines Stephani and the sixth seeds advanced past the Ness sisters in the second round 6-1, 6-0 on their way to the semi-finals where they were beaten by the second seeds and eventual
runners-up. In the boys’ singles Duncan Rollinson won his first round match but was outclassed by the fifth seed in the second round and Sam Bubb also advanced to the second round only to fall to the 13th seed. Jarrad Hill, Harry Dargue and Edwin Dargue were all first round casualties. In the consolation draw Rollinson won three matches in a row, one by walkover and a 6-1 7-5 win over Bubb, before going down to ninth seed William Schneideman 16-1, 4-6 2-10 in the semi-finals. Harry Dargue had a win in the consolation round before exiting in the second round
while Edwin had the bye in round one and won his second round match before going out in the third round. Hill had first round exits in the main, consolation and plate draws. Edwin Dargue was the eighth seeded pair with Cantabrian Nick Schneideman but they only made it as far as the second round while Rollinson teamed up with Canterbury’s Reece Falck and lost to the second seeds in the second round. Bubb and Hill joined forces but went out in the first round, as did Harry Dargue and his partner.
■ TENNIS
Williams and Djokovic into third round Serena Williams wore a fitted pink blazer into her secondround match at the Australian Open, giving the impression she wasn’t feeling the heat. And after her 6-1, 6-2 win over Vesna Dolonc yesterday, the second consecutive scorching day at the season’s first major, Williams said she could remember hotter matches. By extending her winning stretch to 24 matches dating back to August, and improving her career mark to 60-8 at Melbourne Park, she also equaled Margaret Court’s record 60 match wins at the Australian Open in the Open era. Court, who won seven of her 11 Australian titles before the Open era began in 1968, has a show court named in her honor adjacent to Rod Laver Arena. On day three at Melbourne Park, the centre court was — at least according to the two fans holding up a sign — “Serena’s Arena.” The heat topped 40°C during the 63-minute match, and peaked at just under 42°C later during Novak Djokovic’s 6-0, 6-4, 6-4 win over Leonardo Mayer. Second-seeded Djokovic, aiming to be the first man in the Open era to win four consecutive Australian Open titles, didn’t face a break point. Williams fended off the only break point she faced with an ace, one of her 10 in the match. She hit 24 winners, sticking to the ideal strategy of keeping the points short on a hot day. Williams next meets No. 31-seeded Daniela Hantuchova, who was on court for 3 hours, 13 minutes in her 6-3, 3-6, 1210 win over Karolina Pliskova.
Serena Williams of the United States serves to Vesna Dolonc of Serbia during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday. ap photo
Li Na opened proceedings yesterday when she completed back-to-back wins over the two youngest players in the draw. The 2011 French Open champion, a two-time finalist at Melbourne Park, conceded just 10 points in the first set en route to a 6-0, 7-6 (5) win over 16-year-old Belinda Bencic. Li will play No. 26 Lucie Safarova in the third round. No. 9 Angelique Kerber advanced to a match against
American Alison Riske, who trounced Yanina Wickmayer 6-1, 6-1. Australian wild-card entry Casey Dellacqua upset No. 18 Kirsten Flipkens 6-3, 6-0. The tournament’s heat rule went into effect in the first match on Margaret Court Arena, giving No. 15-seeded Sabine Lisicki and Monica Niculescu a 10-minute break after the second set. Niculescu returned to win
2-6, 6-2, 6-2 and will next play No. 22 Ekaterina Makarova, who followed up her first-round win over Venus Williams with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over American Irina Falconi. No. 28 Flavia Pennetta beat Monica Puig in straight sets to set up a third-round match against Mona Barthel, a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner over Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum. On the men’s side, Djokovic extended his winning streak to 26 matches but had a brief scare while serving at 3-0 in the first set when he turned over on his left ankle, tumbling to the court. It didn’t warrant medical attention during the next break in play and he took the opening set in just 22 minutes, allowing Mayer to win just eight points. “It was just I slipped a little bit,” Djokovic said. “It was an instant discomfort, but it was OK after.” No. 3 David Ferrer beat Adrian Mannarino of France 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 to progress along with No. 7 Tomas Berdych and No. 9 Richard Gasquet, No. 17 Tommy Robredo, No. 20 Jerzy Janowicz and No. 29 Jeremy Chardy. Florian Mayer beat No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny, Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin beat No. 30 Dmitry Tursunov and Bosnian qualifier Damir Dzumhur advanced when No. 32-seeded Ivan Dodig retired with cramps while leading in the fourth set. Sam Querrey fired 19 aces, saying he had “one of the best service days of my life” in a 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 upset win over No. 23 Ernests Gulbis. - AP
By Daniel RichaRDson Mark down another series victory for New Zealand. After topping the tests and drawing the one-dayers, the Black Caps sealed a 2-0 Twenty20 series victory over the West Indies as they took the second hit-and-giggle match at Westpac Stadium in Wellington last night by four wickets. It was made a lot tougher than it needed to be as New Zealand went in search of 160 to win and after their 81-run triumph in the first Twenty20 in Auckland on Saturday, the series was sealed on the back of 39 runs from Ross Taylor and Luke Ronchi’s fireworks. New Zealand made a rapid start in their chase as left-hander Jesse Ryder hit his first ball for six and enjoyed a decent run of luck during his cameo of 23 from only nine balls. But he didn’t hang around long enough, like his opening partner Martin Guptill who was dismissed in the first over for only one, and when Brendon McCullum was trapped in front by Sunil Narine for 17 shortly after, the home side were in trouble at 50-3. Taylor took the scoring load on though and as Colin Munro came and went for an uneventful five, the former New Zealand captain found himself in the middle with young all-rounder Corey Anderson. But Anderson didn’t last long as he only succeeded in spooning a simple catch to Johnson Charles at cover from the bowling of Andre Russell as he went for six. Anderson’s departure brought Ronchi to the crease and the wicketkeeper proved a useful foil to Taylor as they looked to run down the reigning world champions of Twenty20 cricket. With 54 required from the final 36 balls and Taylor and Ronchi both set, the game was poised for an entertaining finish. When Ronchi took to Dwayne Bravo in the 15th over, the crowd of more than 12,000 began to sense a win for New Zealand. Ronchi then followed up his unbeaten 48 from game one on Saturday with a magnificent 51 not out from 28 balls as the New Zealanders got home with an over to spare. - APNZ