Australia, Kazakhstan open with wins at Billie Jean King Cup

Associated PressNov 8, 2022, 7:34 PM EST

Steve Welsh/Getty Images

GLASGOW, Scotland — Australia and Kazakhstan claimed victories on the opening day of the Billie Jean King Cup, the biggest team event in women’s tennis.

The Australians, bidding for a first title in the competition in 48 years, beat Slovakia 2-1 in Group B thanks to victories by Storm Sanders and Ajla Tomljanovic in singles.

Kazakhstan won by the same score against Britain, the host nation, in Group C after Yulia Putintseva and Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina won their singles matches.

Australia is a seven-time winner of the competition formerly known as the Fed Cup. All of its titles came from 1964-74.

Sanders beat Viktoria Kuzmova 6-4, 6-3, while Tomljanovic was a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the Scottish city of Glasgow.

Kuzmova teamed up with Tereza Mihalikova to beat Sanders and Ellen Perez in the doubles.

Putintseva recovered to beat Katie Boulter 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Rybakina, ranked No. 22, dispatched Harriet Dart in a 6-1, 6-4 win.

In the doubles, Rybakina and Anna Danilina lost 7-5, 6-3 to Olivia Nicholls and Alicia Barnett, who were making their tournament debuts.

There are 12 teams in the competition and they are split into four groups of three. Each match consists of two singles and a doubles.

The group winners will advance to the semifinals on Saturday, with the final on Sunday.

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.