BERLIN: Ons Jabeur started her grass-court season with a win as she cruised past Karolina Muchova 6-3, 6-3 at the Berlin Open on Tuesday, while Andrea Petkovic delighted the home fans by upsetting Garbiñe Muguruza.
Playing for the first time since a shock first-round loss at the French Open, the fourth-ranked Jabeur put in an assured performance as she saved all four of the break points she faced against her Czech opponent.
The top-seeded Jabeur, who reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon last year, will next play US qualifier Alycia Parks.
The Tunisian will also team up with the returning Serena Williams to play doubles in Eastbourne next week.
“Pretty excited to play doubles with Serena,” Jabeur said. “When I got the news, I was over the moon. Such a privilege for me.”
Petkovic defeated the fifth-seeded Muguruza 7-6 (8), 6-4 for her first win over a top 10 player since beating Petra Kvitova at the US Open in 2019.
The German will next face Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus for a place in the quarterfinals.
The second-seeded Maria Sakkari eased into the second round with a 6-3, 6-2 win over French qualifier Leolia Jeanjean. Sakkari, who avenged her loss to Jeanjean in their only previous meeting in 2013, will play Australian qualifier Daria Saville next.
Belinda Bencic defeated German wild card Jule Niemeier 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 for another second-round match against Anna Kalinskaya. Bencic beat the Russian player in the same round in ‘s-Hertogenbosch last week.
Jabeur opens with win in Berlin, Petkovic upsets Muguruza
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Jabeur opens with win in Berlin, Petkovic upsets Muguruza
- Fourth-ranked Jabeur put in an assured performance as she saved all four of the break points
- The top-seeded Jabeur, who reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon last year, will next play US qualifier Alycia Parks
Postecoglou admits taking Nottingham Forest post a ‘bad decision’
- Postecoglou, 60, was appointed as Nuno Espirito Santo’s successor in September
- “There’s no point me blaming it on ‘I didn’t get time’ or anything,” said Postecoglou
LONDON: Ange Postecoglou has said he has only himself to blame for an extraordinarily brief reign as Nottingham Forest manager, with the Australian accepting he made “a bad decision” taking on the job with the Premier League strugglers.
Postecoglou, 60, was appointed as Nuno Espirito Santo’s successor in September.
But infamously impatient Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis sacked Postecoglou just 39 days later, after the experienced manager lost six of his eight games in charge.
Postecoglou, reflecting on his time at Forest for the Overlap podcast, said an over-eagerness to get back into management after his departure from Tottenham Hotspur three months earlier, had been the root cause of his troubles at the City Ground.
“There’s no point me blaming it on ‘I didn’t get time’ or anything,” said Postecoglou. “I should never have gone in there. That was on me. That was a bad decision by me to go in there. I’ve got to take ownership of that.
“It was too soon after Tottenham. I was taking over at a time where they were kind of used to doing things a certain way and I’m obviously going to do things differently. I’ve got to cop that, that was my mistake. It’s no-one else’s fault.”
Postecoglou remains without a club but he has ruled out returning to Celtic, where he enjoyed a successful two-year stint from 2021-23, with the 73-year-old Martin O’Neill currently in caretaker charge of the Scottish champions until the end of the season.
“I loved Celtic, it’s a wonderful football club,” said Postecoglou, who left the Glasgow giants to join Spurs. “If I was younger, I probably would have stayed there longer. I probably would have stayed there three, four years.
“I think I could have made progress with them in Europe but at the time, it had taken me a long time to get to this sort of space, and the opportunity to join Tottenham was too good.
“In terms of going back, I don’t go back. I just don’t think that’s kind of been my career.
“Whatever the next step is, it’ll be something new, somewhere I can make an impact in, somewhere I can win things, but it doesn’t diminish the affection I have for Celtic.”
