Tsitsipas survives Musetti, Sasnovich ousts Raducanu
PARIS (AFP) – Stefanos Tsitsipas came back from the brink to reach the French Open second round as Roland Garros was again overshadowed by the crisis engulfing Wimbledon.
Fourth seed and 2021 runner-up Tsitsipas defeated world No. 66 Lorenzo Musetti, 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2, in a match which finished early Wednesday.
Greek star Tsitsipas triumphed as 20-yearold Musetti collapsed from the brink of a famous Paris win for the second year in succession.
Twelve months ago, the Italian took the first two sets against Novak Djokovic in the last 16 before injury forced a final set retirement.
He enjoyed a flying start when the night session first round tie started Tuesday, sweeping through the first two sets, out-hitting Tsitsipas just as he had done against Djokovic.
But then came the familiar power failure and Tsitsipas comfortably pocketed the next two sets.
“It was positive and a good effort in the end. I wasn’t feeling very good in the first two sets, something was off with my game. Lorenzo wasn’t giving me any rhythm,” said the 23-year-old.
World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev also eased into the second round but could not escape the shadow of Wimbledon, the Grand Slam tournament where he has been declared persona non grata.
Medvedev routed Argentina’s 103rd-ranked Facundo Bagnis, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, on the back of 35 winners.
One place he will not be going, however, is the All England Club next month after Wimbledon banned all Russian and Belarusian players in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The ATP and WTA responded by stripping the sport’s most prestigious tournament of ranking points.
Meanwhile, US Open champion Emma Raducanu was knocked out, losing to Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, in the second round.
The British 12th seed, making her professional debut this year at Roland Garros, had also lost to 47th-ranked Sasnovich at Indian Wells in 2021 in her first match since her shock US Open victory.
“After the first set, I thought I couldn’t win so I just played it point by point,” said the 28-year-old Sasnovich.
Raducanu hit 33 unforced errors and paid the price for not converting five break points in the third game of the decider.
Spanish third seed Paula Badosa, a quarterfinalist last year, swept into the second round with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over French wildcard Fiona Ferro while Simona Halep, the 2018 champion, defeated Germany’s Nastasja Schunk, an 18-year-old lucky loser from qualifying, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.
DALLAS (AFP ) – Luka Doncic scored 30 points as the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Golden State Warriors, 119-109, to keep their NBA Western Conference finals series alive on Tuesday. The Mavericks, needing a victory to avoid a clean sweep, delivered a revived offensive performance to ensure a game five in San Francisco on Thursday. No team in the 75-year history of the NBA has ever come back from 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven playoff series. But after Tuesday’s performance, the Mavericks have at least a lifeline to cling to as the series heads back to California with the Warriors needing just one win from three remaining games to advance to the NBA Finals. Doncic praised the defensive performance of his team-mates after a display which restricted Golden State’s leading scorer – Stephen Curry – to just 20 points. “Our defense was amazing today,” said Doncic, who finished with 14 rebounds and nine assists.”That’s how we’ve got to play, when we play like this we’re a dangerous team.” Asked if he felt the Mavs could still salvage a series victory, Doncic replied: “You never know. We’re going to stick together. It’s going to be tough, we know that but we have to stay together.” The Mavs by contrast drained 11-of-23 from beyond the arc in the first half for a 62-47 half-time lead. The start of the second half was delayed by around 20 minutes after what appeared to be a leak from the arena roof allowed puddles of water to gather at one end of the court. But any idea that the delay would allow the Warriors to regroup quickly evaporated as the Mavericks continued to rain in buckets.