Keys wins a classic in Stanford
Madison Keys outdueled fellow American CoCo Vandeweghe 7-6(4) 6-4 on Sunday to win the Stanford Classic and capture her first title of the year.
In an evenly matched contest between two friendly opponents, third seed Keys was impregnable on serve but claimed the only break in the second set before closing out a confidence-boosting win ahead of the U.S. Open.
“It hasn’t been the easiest season, but it finally feels like I’m on the right track and feeling good about my tennis again,” Keys told reporters. “It feels amazing to have a title at home and on hard courts. I’m really, really happy that this is kind of the start of my US Open Series.”
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand crashed through the defences of world number two Fabiano Caruana in the fifth round and jumped to the joint second spot in the Sinquefield Cup. If the first four games were easy draws, Anand showed to the world that he was patiently waiting for his chances. The Indian showcased one of his best games in recent times, a game that will find its way in the collections of best games ever played by Anand.
Gold eluded India as Satender Rawat (80+kg) and Mohit Khatana (80kg) settled for silver medals after losing their final bouts in the Asian Junior Boxing Championships in Puerto Princesa, Philippines. Satender lost to Uzbekistan’s Almatov Shokrukh in a split verdict, while Mohit went down to Kazakhstan’s Togambay Sagyndyk. Earlier, Ankit Narwal (57kg), Bhavesh Kattimani (52kg), Sidhartha Malik (48kg), Vinit Dahiya (75kg), Akshay Siwach (60kg) and Aman Sehrawat (70kg) had claimed bronze medals.
Trap shooter Kynan Chenai closed in on qualifying for the final of men’s trap event at the 7th Asian Shotgun Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan. The Olympian shot 69 out of 75 to be placed third in the overall standings. Two more qualific tion rounds of 25 targets each will be played tomorrow followed by the final rounds.
Talal Alrashidi of Kuwait heads the standings with a score of 71. Zoravar Singh Sandhu, who reached the final rounds of the ISSF World Cup stage in New Delhi in March, shot 65 to be placed 13th, while Birendeep Sodhi shot 56 to lie in 37th position.
Alexander Zverev issued a warning to top ATP rivals Sunday after winning the Citi Open for his fourth title of the year. The German defeated South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-4 to take top prize at the US Open tuneup event.