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Olympic champion Monica Puig thrashed American Varvara Lepchenko 6-0, 6-3 at the Pan Pacific Open yesterday, her first victory since winning a stunning gold in Rio. Puig beat Germany’s Angelique Kerber in last month’s Olympic final to nab Puerto Rico’s first ever gold medal. “A win is a win for me,” shrugged the world number 33 after her first-round victory in rainy Tokyo. “I’m just trying to finish the season strong and play some good tennis,” added Puig, who crashed out of the US Open in the first round.
“The whole ride from the Olympics has been very crazy and very emotional so it feels good to settle down and play some good tennis again.”
Wildcard Naomi Osaka overpowered fellow Japanese Misaki Doi 6-4, 6-4 to reach the second round. The 18-year-old, born to a Japanese mother and Haitian father and who models her game on Serena Williams, seemed almost embarrassed after needing just 85 minutes to complete an upset victory. Osaka will face either sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia or Czech Lucie Safarova after taking care of Doi, Japan’s top-ranked player at 34th in the world. Two further first-round matches were postponed because of typhoon rains over Tokyo.
Croatia has no arena available to host
Davis Cup final
Croatia will host Argentina its first-ever home Davis Cup final in November but faces problems with a venue, the 24Sata daily reported.
The 2005 Cup winners have two arenas with the required 12,000-plus capacity, one in Zagreb and the other in Split. Both are, however, booked at the time of the November 25-27 tie.
The Zagreb Arena hosts a Marvel Universe Live event, while the Spaladium in Split is the venue for a major concert.
Croatia’s tennis organization now needs to either make room at one of the two big arenas or secure permission from the ITF to hold the final at a smaller venue, as Slovakia did in 2005 against Croatia. In this case, the 7,000-seat arena in Zadar, where Croatia beat France in the semi-finals, is a possible option.
Djokovic, Kerber stay on top fo rankings
Novak Djokovic marginally increased his points lead at the top of the men’s rankings released yesterday by the ATP. The Serb remains on 14,040 points but Britain’s Andy Murray is down 140 points to 9,345 as number two. US Open winner Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland stays third in an unchanged top 10.
Meanwhile, US Open winner Angelique Kerber enjoys her second week at the top of the women’s tennis rankings.
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