A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
China's second seed Wang Qiang produced a clinical display to reach her first WTA final with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Poland's Magda Linette at the Jiangxi Open on Saturday.
The 26-year-old Wang broke her Polish opponent's serve twice in each set and won the last five games of the match to seal victory.
Although Linette struck more winners, 21 to Wang's 17, she was undone by 35 unforced errors over the course of the match.
It was Wang's first victory over Linette, having lost their previous three encounters. She will face Zheng Saisai in Sunday's all-Chinese final.
"I am very happy with the result. I didn't think too much about (the head-to-head)," Wang said on-court. "I just tried to play one shot at a time."
Sixth seed Zheng held off a determined Zhu Lin to win the other semi-final 6-3 1-6 6-2.
Zheng, who was out injured from last September to this March, reeled off six consecutive games in the decider to give herself a chance of claiming a first WTA title.
Since becoming a WTA international event in 2016, the Jiangxi Open has had a pair of Chinese winners in Duan Yingying and Peng Shuai.
Lucky loser Danilovic stuns Sasnovich to reach Moscow final
Serbian lucky loser Olga Danilovic reached her first WTA final with a stunning upset of fifth seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 at the Moscow River Cup on Saturday.
Seventeen-year-old Danilovic, who overcame world number 10 Julia Goerges in the quarter-finals, started the match on the front foot as she converted two break points to claim the opening set against Sasnovich.
Danilovic continued to be the aggressor in the second set but a couple of miscues allowed her Belarusian opponent to force a decider.
Sasnovich fought back from two breaks of serve down in the final set to level at 5-5 but could not seize the initiative, with Danilovic dominating the rallies to set up a third chance to serve out the match.
A long forehand from Sasnovich gave Danilovic -- who was granted a place despite initially failing to qualify -- victory and a place in the final on Moscow clay against fellow teenager, Russian wildcard Anastasia Potapova, who came back from a set down to take the other semi-final.
Potapova, the 2016 Wimbledon girls' singles champion, struck 26 winners in an hard-hitting display before her Slovenian opponent Tamara Zidansek, who was struggling with illness, retired, trailing 3-6, 6-4, 5-2.
Javelin thrower Neeraj’s former coach no more
Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra's former coach Gary Calvert, under whom he scripted history by winning the gold medal in the Junior World Championships in 2016 with a world record throw, has died in Beijing.
The 63-year-old Calvert, an Australian serving as the Chinese national javelin coach, died of a heart attack in China's capital yesterday.
Under Calvert, who served as India's javelin coach from February 2016 to April last year, Neeraj won a historic gold at the 2016 World Junior Championships in Poland, with a throw of 86.48 metres.
Neeraj, who is currently training in Finland as part of preparations for the upcoming Asian Games, paid tribute to his former coach, saying he had learnt a lot under the Australian.
"Very saddened to hear about the demise of coach Gary Calvert, who died of a heart attack yesterday. I had done a lot of hard work under him in 2016-17 and got to learn a lot. You were a good friend and coach, you will always be remembered. RIP," Neeraj tweeted.
Calvert was initially appointed in February 2016 for a two-year tenure but resigned in April last year.
He reportedly wanted to revise his contractual terms and extend his tenure till the 2020 Olympics with a 50 per cent hike in his salary.
