Tennis: Unseeded Kucova stuns Ostapenko

HONG KONG: Former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko was dumped out of the Hong Kong Open Monday — by a player ranked 299 places below her.

The Latvian world number 18 crashed out in three sets against outsider Kristina Kucova — who before Monday had not had a WTA main draw in more than a year — in the first round.Third seed Ostapenko scraped through the first set 7-5 before losing her way in the second with repeated netted ground strokes and Kucova’s vicious backhand tipping the scales in the Slovak’s favour.

The match ended on a farcical note when a shot by Kucova was called in even though it appeared to land well beyond the baseline. An angry Ostapenko, out of challenges, then faced a double match point and quickly succumbed to go down 7-5, 3-6, 2-6. Ostapenko, still only 21, was looking to recover from a poor China Open performance hampered by a wrist injury, but instead endured a miserable evening in Hong Kong. She said her 28-year-old opponent had played like she had “nothing to lose”.

Earlier, France’s number two Alize Cornet swept into the second round of the Hong Kong Open Monday — helped by a “home” crowd.The eighth seed brushed aside Israel’s Julia Glushko 6-1, 6-2, to record her first victory in more than a month after a string of first round exits in Chinese tournaments.

But the 28-year-old credited her change in fortunes with the support of her compatriots at the Victoria Park venue.She added she had “zero expectations” at her third outing in Hong Kong and discounted any notion that US Open champion Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from the event would boost her chances.

Kyrgios makes early exit at Shanghai: Australian firebrand Nick Kyrgios exited the Shanghai Masters in ignominy for the third year running on Monday, appearing to lose heart during his first-round defeat.

The 23-year-old was on the end of a surprise loss to the American qualifier Bradley Klahn, the world number 104 winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. The talented but temperamental Kyrgios, who is ranked 38th in the world, has a chequered history with Shanghai. Last year he was fined after he stormed off mid-way through his first-round match, with jeers and boos ringing in his ears from the crowd. Two years ago he argued with spectators and was accused of giving away points in another defeat. The fiery Australian was fined and suspended on that occasion.

Another high-profile name to go out at the first hurdle was three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka. The 33-year-old Swiss star, who has had injury problems, was defeated by 13th seed Borna Coric. The Croatian, 21, won 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 and will play Klahn in the next round.

Osaka sets sights on Tokyo Olympics: US Open champion Naomi Osaka Monday set her sights on Olympic glory in 2020 as she became only the second Japanese woman to reach number four in the world rankings.

The fast-rising tennis star, who turns 21 on Sunday, has already become Japan’s first Grand Slam singles champion after she stunned Serena Williams in New York last month. And on Monday, she rose to a career-high ranking of four to become the top ranked Japanese woman since Kimiko Date in 1995. Now she is targeting a strong performance at the WTA Finals Singapore later this month and she could yet finish her standout season as the top placed Japanese woman of all time.