Nadal survives scare to advance to second round

BEIJING: Rafael Nadal needed to save two match points before advancing to the second round at the China Open.

The top-ranked Spaniard, playing for the first time since winning the U.S. Open title last month, rallied to beat Lucas Pouille 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5 on Tuesday.

Pouille held two match points while leading 6-4 in the second-set tiebreaker. But Nadal reeled off four straight points to take the set and turn the match around.

MARIA’S AGGRESSION

Maria Sharapova felt her aggression was key as she fought to a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Ekaterina Makarova in the second round of the China Open. “I thought the level of tennis was quite high,” said Sharapova “We had a few breaks in the first [set]. I felt that despite losing that second set, I was motivated to start the third. I was the more aggressive player in the end,” she added.

INDIA ‘A’ TEAMS WIN

PERTH: Sangita Kumari scored a 19th minute winner as India A women’s team beat Tasmania 1-0 to register their first victory at the 2017 Australian Hockey League (AHL) to hand India their maiden win in Pool B. India will now progress to the next round of the tournament to play classification matches as they finished fourth in Pool B with three points.

Meanwhile, India A men defeated Australian Capital Territory (ACT) 2-0 in their final Pool B match to progress to the next round of the 2017 men’s AHL. Affan Yousuf (5th minute) and Armaan Qureshi (46th) scored the goals for India A.

GUJARAT THRASH DELHI

CHENNAI: Gujarat Fortunegiants made short shrift of Dabang Delhi hammering them 42-22 on Tuesday. It was yet another dismal showing by Delhi as they crashed to their 14th defeat of the campaign. Delhi’s defence had a terrible game as they scored just four points in the match.

Gujarat are top of the table in Zone A with 67 points from 18 matches while Delhi are rooted at the bottom of the table with 31 points after 19 matches.