Barty, Rublev win Adelaide titles ahead of Australian Open

Associated PressJan 19, 2020, 1:13 PM EST

AP Photo

ADELAIDE, Australia — Top-ranked Ashleigh Barty has fine-tuned for the first tennis major of the season by winning her first title on home soil with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over No. 24-ranked Dayana Yastremska in Saturday’s Adelaide International final.

The French Open champion had reached finals in Australia before, finishing runner-up twice at the Sydney International after losses to Angelique Kerber in 2018 and Petra Kvitova last year.

She’s now the first Australian woman to win a tour-level title at home since 2011.

Andrey Rublev became the first man in 16 years to win two titles in the first two weeks of the season when he beat Lloyd Harris 6-3, 6-0 in Adelaide to follow up on his victory in Doha.

Dominik Hrbaty won the Adelaide and Auckland titles in 2004 before the Australian Open.

“I was not thinking about (the record) but it’s an amazing feeling,” Russian Rublev said. “If you talk about results, of course this is the best I have ever done.”

Barty conceded just two points on serve during the first set, breaking the 19-year-old Yastremska’s serve in the third and seventh games.

Yastremska struggled against Barty’s backhand slice, and changes of pace and height on the ball.

Barty broke to open the second set but Yastremska rallied to win the next three games, and had two break point chances in the eighth game.

The home favorite saved both of those to level at 4-4 and then broke Yastremska’s serve in the 11th game and served out.

“This is incredible. Great start to the year,” Barty said. “I definitely feel the love out here. I love playing in Australia. I love playing at home.

“It was nice to get the ball rolling this week – I can’t wait to get started in Melbourne on Monday.”

Barty’s next match will be on Rod Laver Arena on the first night of the Australian Open against Lesia Tsurenko. Her run to the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park last year was Barty’s best run yet at her home championship. She followed that up by winning at Roland Garros for her first major title and closed the 2019 season with victory in the WTA Finals.

Yastremska, seeded No. 23, will face Slovenian qualifier Kaja Juvan in the first round.

At French Open, Francisco Cerundolo is mad at chair umpire over Holger Rune’s double-bounce

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 8:49 PM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS – Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina was devastated about losing his French Open fourth-round match to Holger Rune of Denmark in a fifth-set tiebreaker Monday. He also was mad at chair umpire Kader Nouni for missing a double-bounce of the ball on a point that was awarded to Rune early in his 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory.

They were tied at a set apiece and on serve at 2-1 for the No. 6-seeded Rune early in the third at Court Suzanne Lenglen when the point of contention happened. Cerundolo, who was serving at deuce, hit a forehand that skidded low at the baseline and quickly bounced a second time – which normally would have meant that the point was his.

But Rune went ahead and got his racket on the ball, sending it back over the net. At about the same time, No. 23 seed Cerundolo was saying “sorry” to apologize for the odd way his forehand made the ball skim across the clay. Nouni was not immediately aware of the double-bounce, thought the ball was still in play and called Cerundolo for hindrance for talking during a point. That meant Rune got the point, and when he won the next one, too, he had a service break.

“It was unbelievable, because it was a clear double-bounce. I was mad at the umpire because he has to see it,” Cerundolo said. “It’s his fault.”

In tennis, electronic line-calling is used at many tournaments to make line calls, but replays are not used to check things like double-bounces or whether a point should be lost because a player touches the net, which is not allowed.

And while Cerundolo put the onus on the official, he also thought Rune could have ceded the point because of the double-bounce.

“For sure, I wish he would have done that, because it was a big moment,” Cerundolo said.

Rune, who moved into a matchup against No. 4 Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals, said he saw a replay after the following point, and “saw it was a double bounce. But the point already happened, and he called the score. So I felt sorry.”

But, Rune added: “This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Associated PressJun 1, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.