World

Russian tennis players collect 3 titles at US Open tuneups

Published

2 years ago

August 8, 2022

Russian tennis players collect 3 titles at US Open tuneups

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was fairly per week for Russia’s skilled tennis gamers — 4 tournaments, three titles.

One in every of them, Liudmila Samsonova, thinks it won’t be merely a coincidence that this latest run of success for her, Daria Kasatkina and Daniil Medvedev comes shortly after they have been banned from competing at Wimbledon due to their nation’s invasion of, and ongoing struggle in, Ukraine.

“We’re are all very offended in regards to the state of affairs,” Samsonova mentioned after beating Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 within the remaining of the Citi Open on Sunday for her second profession WTA title. “I imply, it was a extremely robust month.”

Samsonova earned her trophy in Washington a day after Medvedev, who leads the lads’s rankings, defeated Britain’s Cam Norrie for the championship at Los Cabos, Mexico, and a number of other hours earlier than Kasatkina gained the title at San Jose, California, with a victory over American Shelby Rogers. All three occasions are hard-court tuneups forward of the yr’s final Grand Slam event, the U.S. Open, which begins in New York on Aug. 29; Medvedev is the defending champion there. (The week’s fourth title, the lads’s occasion on the Citi Open, was gained by Australia’s Nick Kyrgios; a Russian, Andrey Rublev, reached the semifinals).

On the earlier Grand Slam occasion, Wimbledon, which ran from late June into July, all athletes from Russia and Belarus have been blocked by the All England Membership from taking part due to the assault on Ukraine. That prompted the WTA and ATP skilled excursions to withhold rankings factors from the event, which means no matter was earned there in 2021 fell off a participant’s file and couldn’t get replaced with how they fared there this yr.

“It’s been an awesome week for us. I wouldn’t say that Wimbledon (gave) loads of motivation to us, as a result of we wish to win these tournaments and matches in any case. I believe it simply occurred that, on this explicit week, three Russian gamers gained titles. It’s not occurring fairly often, let’s say,” mentioned Kasatkina, who has known as for an finish to the combating in Ukraine. “I believe it’s only a coincidence. It exhibits that we’re on degree.”

When Samsonova arrived in Washington per week in the past, her rating had dropped from a career-best of twenty fifth in Might to sixtieth. And he or she had not performed a match on tour since June.

She used that point to go to her coaching base in Italy and work on her sport — and herself.

She began collaborating with a psychological coach (“I can’t thank her sufficient,” Samsonova mentioned Sunday). She sought to enhance her topspin forehand, her serve and her return, all of which paid off throughout a victory over reigning U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu within the quarterfinals and towards Kanepi within the remaining.

Requested Sunday about Wimbledon and the outcomes she and different Russians produced this week, Samsonova mentioned: “We (had) loads of time to work, so I believe we (used) it very nicely.”

Up till a few weeks in the past, she was unsure whether or not she would have the ability to play in Washington in any respect. That’s as a result of her visa was as a consequence of expire in July and she or he was advised there won’t be sufficient time to finish the appliance course of for a renewal.

That may have meant lacking not simply the Citi Open, but in addition different tournaments within the nation, together with maybe the U.S. Open. (In contrast to the All England Membership, the U.S. Tennis Affiliation introduced it might allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to enter the attracts).

Happily, Samsonova mentioned, it did work out, in any other case she may need gone again to Europe to play in some lower-level occasions.

“I actually don’t know” what would have occurred, she acknowledged.

The paperwork got here via, Samsonova made it to Washington, and on Sunday evening, she was pondering one thing Medvedev and Kasatkina may need been, too: What’s the right strategy to have fun?

“For certain,” the 23-year-old Samsonova mentioned, “some drinks.”

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AP Sports activities Author Janie McCauley in San Jose, California, contributed.

___

Extra AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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World

Jeff Baena, Film Director and Husband of Aubrey Plaza, Dead at 47

Published

27 minutes ago

January 4, 2025

Press Room

Jeff Baena, Film Director and Husband of Aubrey Plaza, Dead at 47

Jeff Baena Dead: Aubrey Plaza’s Husband’s Cause of Death

World

World’s oldest person dies in Japan at 116

Published

2 hours ago

January 4, 2025

Press Room

World’s oldest person dies in Japan at 116

Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman who was the world’s oldest person, according to Guinness World Records, has died, an Ashiya city official said Saturday. She was 116.

Yoshitsugu Nagata, an official in charge of elderly policies, said Itooka died Dec. 29 at a care home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan.

Itooka, who loved bananas and a yogurt-flavored Japanese drink called Calpis, was born May 23, 1908. She became the oldest person last year after the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas, according to the Gerontology Research Group.

Tomiko Itooka celebrates her 116th birthday at the nursing home where she lives in Ashiya, Japan, May 23, 2024. (Ashiya City via AP)

WORLD’S OLDEST MAN, DEAD AT 112, ATE THIS MEAL EVERY FRIDAY

When she was told she was at the top of the World Supercentenarian Rankings List, she simply replied, “Thank you.”

When Itooka celebrated her birthday last year, she received flowers, a cake and a card from the mayor.

Born in Osaka, Itooka was a volleyball player in high school and long had a reputation for a sprightly spirit, Nagata said. She climbed the 3,067-meter (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake twice.

Tomiko Itooka celebrates her 116th birthday at the nursing home where she lives in Ashiya, Japan, May 23, 2024. (Ashiya City via AP)

OLDEST PERSON IN THE US, ELIZABETH FRANCIS, DIES AT 115 YEARS OLD IN HOUSTON

She married at 20, and had two daughters and two sons, according to Guinness.

Itooka managed the office of her husband’s textile factory during World War II. She lived alone in Nara after her husband died in 1979.

She is survived by one son and one daughter and five grandchildren. A funeral service was held with family and friends, according to Nagata.

According to the Gerontology Research Group, the world’s oldest person is now 116-year-old Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, who was born 16 days after Itooka.

World

Austrian chancellor to resign after coalition talks collapse

Published

3 hours ago

January 4, 2025

Press Room

Austrian chancellor to resign after coalition talks collapse

Nehammer says his People’s Party would not support measures that it believes would harm the economy or new taxes.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has said he will resign after talks between the country’s biggest centrist parties on forming a government without the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) collapsed.

The announcement on Saturday comes a day after the liberal Neos party withdrew from the negotiations with Nehammer’s conservative People’s Party (OVP) and the Social Democrats (SPO).

“After the breakoff of the coalition talks I am going to do the following: I will step down both as chancellor and party chairman of the People’s Party in the coming days,” he said.

In a video posted to his social media accounts, the outgoing chancellor said “long and honest” negotiations with the centre-left failed despite a shared interest in fending off the gaining far right.

Nehammer emphasised that his party would not support measures that it believes would harm the economy or new taxes.

He said he would enable “an orderly transition” and railed against “radicals who do not offer a single solution to any problem but only live from describing problems”.

The far-right Freedom Party (FPO) won the first parliamentary election in its history in late September with close to 30 percent of the vote.

But other parties refused to govern in a coalition with the eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO and its leader Herbert Kickl, so President Alexander Van der Bellen in late October tasked Nehammer to form a coalition.

Nehammer’s announcement comes after he also failed to reach an understanding with the Neos party.

Neos leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger said progress was impossible and that “fundamental reforms” had not been agreed upon.

After the chancellor’s exit, the OVP is expected to convene to discuss potential successors.

The political landscape remains uncertain in Austria, with no immediate possibility of forming a stable government due to ongoing differences between the parties.

The president may now appoint another leader and an interim government as the parties try to find a way out of the deadlock.

The next government in Austria faces the challenge of having to save between 18 to 24 billion euros ($18.5-24.7bn), according to the European Commission.

The country’s economy has been in a recession for the past two years, is experiencing rising unemployment and its budget stands at 3.7 percent of gross domestic product – above the European Union’s limit of 3 percent.