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Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 28, 2019 Tennis
Serena sees off two old foes
IT WAS not a good 24 hours at
the US Open for those who
work in the often thankless
profession of umpiring.
First it emerged that Damian
Steiner, who sat in the chair
for last month’s epic
Wimbledon men’s final, has
been sacked by the ATP Tour.
Then Serena Williams loftily
dismissed the man who tried
to discipline her in last year’s
tumultuous championship
match at Flushing Meadows.
Williams (below) was in
confident mood after her
imperious dismissal
of old foe Maria
Sharapova —
beating her 6-1,
6-1 in their
opening night
encounter. It
may have
been hermost commanding
performance since returning
from becoming a parent last
year. Afterwards she was
asked for her reaction to the
decision that she and umpire
Carlos Ramos — who nearly
defaulted her in the women’s
final — would be kept apart at
this year’s edition. ‘I don’t
know who that is,’ she
responded.
The main takeaway from the
much-hyped match was that
Williams, who now faces
American teenager Catherine
McNally, was inspired again
by the sight of arch enemy
Sharapova on the other
side of the net and
looked in frighteningly
good form. At least
there was no
controversy with the
officiating, althoughthe tournament had already
kicked off with news of
another umpire in strife.
The New York Times reported
that Steiner has been
dismissed for giving a series of
unauthorised interviews in his
native Argentina in the wake
of presiding over the classic
final between Roger Federer
and Novak Djokovic at SW19.
Steiner, an elite Gold Badge
holder rated as one of the
sport’s best, gave at least a
dozen interviews to the
media after his return home
and his crime was straying
into areas that are off limits.
Among other things he made
suggestions that there should
be restrictions on the use of
towelling down and that let
serves might be abolished. He
also talked about the final itself.MIKE DICKSONSPORT IN BRIEF
÷CRICKET
T20 BLAST - NORTH GROUP — Emirates
Riverside: Durham 151-5 (19 overs, Short
50), Birmingham Bears 153-3 (18.5 overs,
Pollock 77). Birmingham (2pts) beat Dur-
ham by 7 wickets (D/L Method).
County P W L T NR Pts RR
Lancashire......... 13 7 2 0 4 18 0.77
Derbyshire ........ 14 7 5 0 2 16 0.02
Notts .................. 12 6 3 0 3 15 0.67
Worcestershire 12 6 4 0 2 14 0.28
Birmingham ...... 13 4 6 1 2 11 -0.42
Leicestershire... 13 4 6 0 3 11 -0.47
Northants .......... 12 3 5 0 4 10 -0.21
Durham .............. 13 4 7 0 2 10 -0.28
Yorkshire ........... 12 2 5 1 4 9 -0.20
SOUTH GROUP — The Kia Oval: Som-
erset 157-9 (20 overs, Imran Tahir
4-25), Surrey 158-4 (16.3 overs, Finch
102no). Surrey (2pts) beat Somerset
by 6 wickets.
P W L T NR Pts RR
Sussex ................ 13 8 2 1 2 19 0.91
Gloucestershire .. 12 5 3 1 3 14 0.24
Kent.................... 12 6 4 0 2 14 0.08
Somerset ........... 13 6 6 0 1 13 0.61
Middlesex .......... 12 6 5 0 1 13 0.21
Surrey ................ 13 5 6 1 1 12 -0.18
Hampshire ......... 12 4 5 1 2 11 0.09
Essex .................. 12 3 4 1 4 11 -0.78
Glamorgan ........ 13 0 8 1 4 5 -1.68
÷BASEBALL
MLB — Colorado Rockies 3 Atlanta
Braves 1, Kansas City Royals 4
Oakland Athletics 19, Miami Marlins 3
Cincinnati Reds 6, Milwaukee Brewers
2 St Louis Cardinals 12, Philadelphia
Phillies 6 Pittsburgh Pirates 5, San
Diego Padres 4 Los Angeles Dodgers
3, San Francisco Giants 4 Arizona
Diamondbacks 6, Seattle Mariners 4
New York Yankees 5.÷CYCLING
LA VUELTA A ESPANA (Spain) — Stage
4 (Cullera - El Puig, 175.5km): 1 F
Jakobsen (Hol) Deceuninck-
QuickStep 4hrs 4mins 16secs, 2 S
Bennett (Ire) Bora-Hansgrohe, 3
M Walscheid (G) Team Sunweb, 4
F Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates,
5 L Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott,
48 N Roche (Ire) Team Sunweb all
at same time. Overall: 1 N Roche
(Ire) Team Sunweb 13hrs 55mins
30secs, 2 N Quintana (Col) Movistar
Team at 2secs, 3 R Uran (Col) EF
Education First at 8secs, 4 M Nieve
(Sp) Mitchelton-Scott at 22secs, 5 M
Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team
at 33secs, 142 S Bennett (Ire) Bora-
Hansgrohe at 17mins 41secs.
÷FORMULA 1
THE Spanish Grand Prix will remain
a feature of the calendar next year,
with the confirmation of a one-year
extension. The Circuit de Catalunya-
Barcelona had been due to drop
off the calendar because of financial
troubles. The news means 2020 will
almost certainly feature a record
22 races with the inclusion of the
Vietnam and Dutch GP’s and the loss
of the German GP.
÷TENNIS
US OPEN (Flushing Meadows,
New York) — Men’s 1st rnd: (23) S
Wawrinka (Swi) bt J Sinner (It) 6-3
7-6 (7-4) 4-6 6-3; (3) R Federer (Swi)
bt S Nagal (Ind) 4-6 6-1 6-2 6-4; G Bar-
rere (F) bt C Norrie (GB) 7-6 (7-4)
6-4 4-6 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-2); A Rublev(Rus) bt (8) S Tsitsipas (Gre) 6-4 6-7
(5-7) 7-6 (9-7) 7-5; G Simon (F) bt B
Fratangelo (US) 5-7 7-5 7-5 7-5; (24)
M Berrettini (It) bt R Gasquet (F)
6-4 6-3 2-6 6-2; J Thompson (A) bt J
Sousa (Por) 6-3 6-2 6-4; A Popyrin (A)
bt F Delbonis (Arg) 6-1 7-5 7-6 (7-5);
M Kukushkin (Kaz) bt (10) R Bautista
Agut (Sp) 3-6 6-1 6-4 3-6 6-3; L Sonego
(It) bt M Granollers (Sp) 6-3 6-4 6-4;
A Bublik (Kaz) bt S Giraldo (Col) 2-6
6-0 7-5 3-6 6-4; (14) J Isner (US) bt
G Garcia-Lopez (Sp) 6-3 6-4 6-4; (22)
M Cilic (Cro) bt M Klizan (Svk) 6-3 6-2
7-6 (8-6); (32) F Verdasco (Sp) bt T
Kamke (G) 6-3 3-6 6-1 6-2..
Women’s 1st rnd: (10) M Keys (US)
bt M Doi (Jpn) 7-5 6-0; (8) S Williams
(US) bt M Sharapova (Rus) 6-1 6-1; (1)
N Osaka (Jpn) bt A Blinkova (Rus) 6-
4 6-7 (5-7) 6-2; M Linette (Pol) bt A
Sharma (A) 6-3 6-4; A Cornet (F) bt
J Pegula (US) 6-2 6-3; (13) B Bencic
(Swi) bt M Minella (Lux) 6-3 6-2; (26) J
Goerges (G) bt N Vikhlyantseva (Rus)
1-6 6-1 7-6 (7-1); F Di Lorenzo (US) bt
V Kudermetova (Rus) 7-6 (7-4) 6-2;
(7) K Bertens (Ned) bt P Badosa Gib-
ert (Sp) 6-4 6-2; K Flipkens (Bel) bt X
Wang (Chn) 3-6 6-2 6-2; (15) B Vanessa
Andreescu (Can) bt K Volynets (US)
6-2 6-4; J Ostapenko (Lat) bt A Kru-
nic (Ser) 6-3 7-6 (9-7); A Riske (US)
bt (24) G Muguruza (Sp) 2-6 6-1 6-3; A
Petkovic (G) bt M Buzarnescu (Rom)
6-3 6-4; (6) P Kvitova (Cz) bt D Aller-
tova (Cz) 6-2 6-4; (4) S Halep (Rom) bt
N Gibbs (US) 6-3 3-6 6-2.
÷TODAY’S ACTION
CRICKET — t20 Blast - North Group:
Worcestershire v Nottinghamshire
(New Road, 4pm).MIKE
DICKSON
Tennis Correspondent
at Flushing MeadowsUS OPEN TENNIS
Edmund falls
flat at the
first hurdle
Brit unravels in five-set US loss
T
he mantle of being
British No 1 has
never rested easily
on Kyle edmund’s
shoulders and he
may be relieved of that
pressure fairly soon.
Last night he clocked up
another disappointing Grand
Slam loss, going out in the
US Open first round against the
lower-ranked Pablo Andujar. he
succumbed in five sets after a
grim struggle that stretched to
four hours and 21 minutes.
By the time he had trudged
back to the Flushing Meadows
locker rooms following a 6-3, 6-7,
5-7, 7-5, 2-6 defeat, the 24-year-
old Yorkshireman might have
been able to catch the
closing stages of Mur-
ray’s latest come-
back match in the
contrastingly
humble setting of
Mallorca.
The twice Wim-
bledon champion
beat Slovakia’s
Norbert Gombos
6-3, 6-4 to make the
third round in an
event hosted by Rafael
Nadal’s academy.
A seasoned campaigner ranked
No 115, Gombos made the last
eight at the ATP event in Wash-
ington earlier this month.
Murray (above) looked nimble
enough after being made to wait
until late into the evening to
play. his plaintive body language
showed that, however small the
tournament, he wants to win it
as part of his plan to re-enter theorbit he belongs in. If the
32-year-old Scot’s body allows
him to make some semblance of
a proper comeback it might
make life easier for edmund,
whose surge to the semi-final of
the Australian Open 18 months
ago has increasingly come to feel
like a cross to bear.
Since being the final Brit out of
Wimbledon in the third round
last summer, he has only won
two matches at the
majors. his ranking has
remained at around
No 30 only because of
some decent results
late last season —
points from which he
will soon have to
defend.
edmund has looked
strangely flat this year,
roughly coinciding with
the departure from his team
of coach Fredrik Rosengren.
The Swede has barely been seen
around the tour since but is in
town to work for television and
watched some of the early
exchanges from the stands.
edmund has also suffered a
succession of niggling injuries,
often related to his knee.
The Yorkshireman’s play for
the first set and a half was
reminiscent of the best producedduring his association with
Rosengren — crunching
groundstrokes bringing him
the first set and then gaining
him a break for 3-2 in the
second.
Andujar, ranked 70, is a
highly mobile baseliner who
favours the clay and he
slowly counter-punched
his way back as edmund’s
error count steadily grew.
The British player’s
superior firepower was
undermined by the mis-
takes being sucked from
him, and only when he
reeled off a succession of
winners at 6-5 in the fourth
set did he look more
convincing.
The patient Spaniard plays like
a human wall, but when edmund
drove through his defences to go
2-0 up in the decider he looked
set for a precious victory. Instead,
he was broken by his lesser-
ranked opponent’s ability to get
the ball back in play.
edmund ended up unwinding
to lose the last six games. The
highest-ranked seed in his quar-
ter, No 4 Dominic Thiem, was
simultaneously upset by Italy’s
Thomas Fabbiano. But after this
season, it was fanciful to think
that edmund may have profited
from Thiem’s loss.
Dan evans will today try and
force his way towards another
potential Grand Slam meeting
with Roger Federer when he
tackles Lucas Pouille, the 25th
seed from France, in the second
round.
Jo Konta is also in action as she
plays Russia’s world No 61
Margarita Gasparyan. Despair: Edmund suffers during yesterday’s five-set defeat GETTY IMAGESv1