Man Claiming To Be ‘Long-Time Friend’ Of Peng Shuai Accuses The WTA Of Ignoring Her - UBITENNIS
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Man Claiming To Be ‘Long-Time Friend’ Of Peng Shuai Accuses The WTA Of Ignoring Her

Ding Li has spoken to the BBC and made a series of allegations against the WTA.

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The WTA hasn’t responded to an email allegedly sent by Peng Shuai saying that she doesn’t want to be disturbed, according to a senior executive of Global D-Sports.

Ding Li has posted what he claims is a screenshot of Shuai’s email which was sent to the WTA on Twitter. In the tweet he tagged in multiple tennis governing bodies, as well as two accounts belonging to the International Olympic Committee. Little is known about Li but he claims to be a ‘long-time friend’ of the tennis star. The company he works for operates the Tianyancha app which organizes sport events and manages athletes. On November 20th he posted a video of Shuai in a restaurant which he also attended in Beijing.

There has been concern about Shuai‘s safely since a post appeared on her Weibo account accusing a former Chinese official, Zhang Gaoli, of sexual abuse. The post was deleted shortly after and there were fears Shuai had disappeared. She has since been shown in photos and videos uploaded by Chinese media which is overseen by the country’s government. The International Olympic Committee also held a video call with her on Sunday but the WTA said they still have their concerns. The IOC press release made no reference about the sexual allegations which was made.

According to Ding, Shuai’s purported email asked the WTA not to ‘hype up’ her personal affairs. This is the second time a copy of an email said to be written by Shuai has been leaked online. The first was published by CGTN which is the international branch of China’s state-run broadcaster CCTV.

“At the moment I do not want to be disturbed, and especially [can you] not hype up my personal affairs. I hope to live quietly. Thank you again for your concern.” A translation of the latest email reads.

The BBC contacted Ding following his latest post on Twitter. During an interview, he accused WTA boss Steve Simon of ‘bothering’ Shuai and claimed he gave her contact details to multiple tennis players, as well as media outlets. According to Ding this is ‘a very big factor’ as to why Shuai hasn’t spoken to Simon.

Interestingly Ding’s accusations came a couple hours after IOC member Dick Pound made similar comments during an interview with CNN. Pound warned that threatening China with Economic sanctions will not work and the recent IOC video call found no evidence that Shuai was being censored by the authorities. Although he later admitted to CNN that he hasn’t seen the video himself.

The ATP (he was meant to say WTA) has its own views. I don’t think they have been paying much attention to what has been happening in Basketball and football in threatening (the) Chinese with economic sanctions It’s not going to work and part of the proof of the pudding was that they were not able to get in touch with her (Shuai) and that’s her sport. Maybe she didn’t like the attitude they were showing?.” Pound commented.

Ding was asked by the BBC if they could speak with Shuai in order to verify his claims but he replied ‘“she only wishes to have a good rest alone in her own home.” Although he says there is “absolutely no supervision nor pressure, and there was definitely no punishment”.

However, when it comes to the allegations of sexual assault Ding says there is no investigation into Gaoli as her alleged emails ‘showed there was no signs of sexual assault.’ Even though it was clearly stated in her Weibo post. China has censored Shuai’s allegations and it has not been reported by any of the country’s newspapers which operate under government rule.

The WTA has threatened to pull their tournaments in China if their concerns about Shuai aren’t resolved.

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Elena Rybakina beats Victoria Azarenka to reach her fourth final of the season at the Miami Open

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Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina beat Victoria Azarenka 6-4 0-6 7-6 (7-2) in the semifinal of the Miami Open to reach her fourth final of the season. 

Rybakina has improved to 4-0 in her head-to-head matches against Azarenka and has a seasonal record of 22 wins to 3 defeats. 

Both players were not able to convert their early break points in the opening set. 

Azarenka saved four break points in the first game to hold serve after three deuces. Rybakina fended off two break points in the sixth game. 

Rybakina earned the first break of the match in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. Azarenka earned a break point in the eighth game, but she was not able to convert it. Rybakina served out the first set with a hold at love. 

Azarenka broke three times to race through to a bagel win in the second set. The three-time Miami Open champion dropped just two points on serve in the second set. She made a double faul on one of these points. 

Rybakina stopped Azarenka’s seven-game streak by holding serve to draw level to 1-1 in the third set. Rybakina earned her fifth break point in the fifth game with a backhand pass, as Azarenka was serving at 2-2, and converted her chance to take a 3-2 lead, when Azarenka hit a backhand into the net. Rybakina consolidated the break by holding serve to take a 4-2 lead. Rybakina fended off a break point with her 10th ace, as she was serving for the match at 5-4, but Azarenka earned a second break point after a long baseline exchange. Azarenka converted her break point when Rybakina volleyed into the net. Rybakina earned three mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-2. 

Rybakina won two titles in Brisbane and Abu Dhabi and reached her first WTA 1000 final of the season in Doha on hard court. 

Last year the Kazakh player won in Indian Wells and was a win away from winning the Sunshine Double in the Miami Open final, where she lost to Petra Kvitova 7-6 (16-14) 6-2. 

Rybakina is just the third player in the last ten years to reach back to back Miami finals following Serena Williams and Ashleigh Barty. 

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Alexander Zverev beats Fabian Maroszan to reach the semifinal in Miami

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Alexander Zverev beat Fabian Maroszan 6-3 7-5 to reach his third semifinal of the 2024 season at the Miami Open. 

Zverev will face the winner of the quarter final match between this year’s Indian Wells champion Carlos Alcaraz and 11 seed Grigor Dimitrov. Zverev reached the final at the Miami Open in 2018. 

Should Alcaraz beats Dimitrov, the Spanish player would meet Zverev for the second time this month. Alcaraz beat Zverev 6-3 6-1 in the quarter finals at Indian Wells. 

Zverev won 80% of his first serve points and saved the only two break points he faced. The German player committed just 10 unforced errors to Maroszan’s 23. 

Zverev converted his fourth break point in the third game of the first set and held serve at 15 to take a 3-1 lead. The 2021 German player saved a break point in the sixth game keepin a one-break lead. He closed out the first set 6-3 with a double break at 30.

Maroszan saved a break point in the second game of the second set to hold serve at love for 1-1. Zverev fended off a break point in the fifth game to hold serve after two deuces for 3-2. Both players held on serve until the 12th game. Zverev was leading 6-5 when Maroszan served to send the second set into the tie-break. The Hungarian player earned two game points, but he did not convert his chances. 

Zverev broke serve after two deuces on his first match point to seal the second set 7-5. 

“I love Miami. I always said that. I am happy to be back in these late stages of these tournaments, playing the best players in the world. I think there are only those left. I am looking forward to the challenge. If Maroszan keeps playing like that, he’s going to rise up the rankings very quickly. He always rushes you. I think when all players feel like they are in control, they feel like they manage the match and play the match a little bit in their own favour and against him, it’s not possible. That’s why he has such a great top 10 record of 4-2. He is an unbelievable player”, said Zverev. 

Maroszan was playing in his second quarter final at Masters 1000 level after reaching this stage in Shanghai in 2023. The Hungarian player has moved up 19 spots to a career-high of number 38 in the ATP Live Rankings. He will become the Hungarian player to reach the top 50 in the ATP Ranking. Earlier this tournament he claimed two top 10 wins over Holger Rune and Alex De Minaur. 

Zverev is aiming his sixth Masters 1000 title and his first trophy in the series since Cincinnati 2021. 

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Ekaterina Alexandrova upsets Jessica Pegula to reach the semifinal at the Miami Open

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World number 16 Ekaterina Alexandrova came back from one set down to upset Jessica Pegula 3-6 6-4 6-4 in 1 hour and 58 minutes reaching the semifinals at the Miami Open.

Alexandrova has drawn level to 1-1 in her head-to-head matches against Pegula. 

Alexandrova beat top 5 players In back-to-back matches for the first time in her career with her wins over world number 1 Iga Swiatek and Pegula. In her previous two rounds of the Miami Open she had defeated Donna Vekic and Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova. 

Alexandrova also beat 2022 Elena Rybakina in Adelaide last January and has the most wins in 2024 against players ranked in the top 5. She has a record of 6 wins to 17 defeats against top 5 players in her career.   

Pegula won four consecutive games from 2-3 down with two breaks to seal the first set 6-3. Alexandrova fought back breaking serve in the first game of the second set. The Russian player went up a double break in the seventh game to open up a 5-2 lead. Pegula pulled one break back in the eighth game for 3-5. Alexandrova served out the second set at love to force the match to the decider. 

Alexandrova earned an early break in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Pegula broke straight back in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3, when Alexandrova double faulted on her fourth break point. Pegula held serve in the seventh game after a fantastic rally, but Alexandrova earned the decisive break, when Pegula went long with her backhand return on the second break point. Alexandrova held serve on her second match point and fell to her knees in joy.  

“It was extremely difficult for me because Pegula played amazing. In the third set, there were sometimes the kind of rallies where I could not understand how it was possible to return that ball, but it always came back. I just tried to play every single point like I knew she was going to be everywhere, so I need to do something and I was trying to wait and use any opportunities that I got”, said Alexandrova. 

Alexandrova set up a semifinal against Danielle Collins, the last remaining US player. It will be the first head-to-head match between Alexandrova and Collins.  

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