Atx Open finalists in Austin were saved from an exhausting trip to the Indian wells after Sunday after Sunday’s action after the American Jessica Pegula flew them to the tournament in the Californian desert in her private plane.
Pegula, whose billionaire parents have the NFL and NHL of Buffalo franchises, won the singles title in Austin defeating compatriot McCartney Kessler 7-5 6-2, but stayed when Kessler and Zhang Shuai lost to Yuan Yue and Anna Blinkova in the Doublles final.
With the players facing a rapid change ahead of the main draw of Indian Wells as of Wednesday, Pegula offered to fly to California for the WTA 1000 tournament.
Zhang thanked Pegula for his generosity on Instagram, adding that otherwise they would have faced a night scale in Los Angeles or trips to nearby airports in Dallas and Houston.
Loading Instagram content
“You know it can leave just after its singles end, but she is a girl so selfless and generous,” Zhang wrote.
“This message is not to show that I took the plane, I just wanted to appreciate and transfer love.”
Blinkova also shared the story of Zhang on Instagram and thanked Pegula number four in the world, who has accumulated more than $ 17 million in prizes in his career.
The Yue of China also expressed its gratitude for the United States runner -up, pegula on social networks for the luxurious trip.
“Otherwise, we would all have been on the road for at least nine hours,” he added.
Blinkova will play Kessler in the first round in Indian Wells, while Yue will play the Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine.
Pegula, sown room, has received a good -round goodbye, while Zhang will enter the doubles event later in the tournament.
Kyrgios looking to align Djokovic Match
Nick Kyrgios will return to action at Indian Wells. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
Nick Kyrgios has not won a singles game since 2022, but he can win one this week, he will find his friend Novak Djokovic on the network.
Kyrgios, whose single career has left the lists due to a series of injuries, has used its protected classification to enter the ATP Masters 1000 in Indian Wells, often announced as the fifth major.
It has been paired with a qualifier in the first round, the identity still unknown, with the winner to play Djokovic, who as a sixth seed has received a good -round goodbye.
Who emerges from that section of the draw is scheduled to meet Alex de Minaur in the last 16, provided that the Australian number one can overcome whoever wins the first round match between David Goffin and Lorenzo Soneo, and then, probably, the number 21 Semilla Hubert Hurkacz.
The following for Kyrgios, Djokovic, from Minaur, or someone else, is scheduled to be the defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals. But there is a lot of tennis to play first, including Dennis Shapovalov that is coming as a threat of third round for the headline.
Kyrgios is one of the few tour players who has a winning record against Djokovic.
He has been victorious in two of his three meetings, even in Indian Wells in 2017, but lost the largest, the 2022 Wimbledon final.
Once he opposed bitterly, the couple is now a friend and played the exciting double matches together in Brisbane at the beginning of the year.
Djokovic is five times winner at the Californian desert event, but they are all prior to the 2017 meeting with Kyrgios. Again he will have Andy Murray in his corner, the Scots had resumed the training relationship released in the Australian Open.
Minaur has never gone beyond the fourth round in Indian Wells, but will trust that at least reach the third never lost to Sonogo or Goffin in nine combined meetings. It has 1-1 with Hurkacz and 1-2 with Djokovic.
Kyrgios and Minaur are among the seven Australians who deserve a place in the main raffle in the classification with at least one, perhaps two, joining the qualification.
Jordan Thompson, Chris O’Connell, Aleksandar Vukic, Rinky Hijikata and Alexei Popyrin went directly to the raffle, with the latter given a first -round goodbye as seed number 28.
Li tu or James Duckworth will come through the qualification, since they are playing, just like Adam Walton if he expires to Michael Mmoh.
A name that will not be there is Jannik Sinner, since the world number one is fulfilling its three -month prohibition due to a doping violation.
There is also a change on the surface of the court that should make the courts notoriously slow are a little faster, and less like clay, especially because the early prognosis is for a cooler and more humid climate. That should favor the majority of the Australian contingent.
Maddison Inglis is the only Australian woman who has described for the main draw, with four more in the second and last classification round.
Reuters/AAP
