Connect with us

Entertainment

Serena survives scare at Roland Garros, wins 800th match

Published

on

Serena Williams survived a first-set scare before defeating Russia’s Vitalia Diatchenko 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 to reach the second round of the French Open on Monday.

The 37-year-old American, who is attempting to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles, racked up her 800th career main draw win with her victory in front of a half-full Court Philippe Chatrier.

“There is always a lot fear for a first round match,” said Williams who eventually raced to victory, taking 12 of the last 13 games.

“I made lots of mistakes in the first set and I just said ‘good luck, Serena’.

“I was strong after that… now I feel like I need to go and practice.”

Williams, the 2002, 2013 and 2015 champion in Paris, will face either Japan’s Kurumi Nara or Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia for a place in the last 32.

Williams won her most recent major at the Australian Open in 2017 while pregnant.

She returned to Grand Slam tennis after giving birth to her daughter at Roland Garros in 2018, making the last 16 where she had been set to resume her bitter rivalry with Maria Sharapova.

An arm injury torpedoed that meeting and stalled her assault on a fourth title in Paris.

Defeat in the 2018 Wimbledon final and US Open championship match, where her now-infamous meltdown overshadowed Naomi Osaka’s title triumph, followed her Paris heartbreak.

Her Australian Open campaign in January ended in a quarter-final loss to Karolina Pliskova despite having led 5-1 in the final set and holding four match points.

Since Melbourne, Williams had been unable to finish the three tournaments she had entered — retiring in the third round of Indian Wells and withdrawing after winning a round in Miami, and after winning one round in Rome due to a right knee injury.

On Monday, the 83rd-ranked Diatchenko, who knocked Maria Sharapova out of Wimbledon last year, broke Williams twice in the opening set in the fifth and seventh games, claiming the opener on a third set point.

Williams fired four aces in the set but also 14 unforced errors.

Suddenly, she was staring at only her second first round loss at a Slam after her 2012 defeat in Paris by Virginie Razzano.

But she stormed back to level the encounter, cutting the errors by half and breaking in the second and sixth games of the set.

She swept through the decider, breaking in the first, third and fifth games.

One year after her ‘Black Panther’ catsuit caused controversy, Williams returned to Roland Garros, dressed in a zebra-striped cape emblazoned with the words ‘mother, champion, queen, goddess’ all translated into French in a nod to her hosts.

Once the cape was removed, Williams revealed a black and white zebra-stripe print dress.

She fell foul of tournament organisers last year with her one-piece black outfit which she said she needed to wear to boost her circulation.

Williams had suffered life-threatening blood clots when she gave birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia in 2017.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Entertainment

Okoroji Promises Unforgettable COSON Week

Published

on

By

Former President of PMAN and now, Chairman of COSON, Chief Tony Okoroji, has declared that the COSON Week scheduled to take place between May 25 and May 31, 2025 will be truly unforgettable.

Chief Okoroji made the declaration in his address to the just concluded Annual General Meeting of Nigeria’s No 1 copyright collective management organization, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), at which the 2024 royalty distribution of a whopping =N=465.5 million was approved.

These are the very words of the well-known master planner and producer of remarkable events: “one of the many important decisions taken by the COSON Board at its meeting of November 6 was the approval for the hosting of a master-blaster edition of the iconic “COSON WEEK” in May 2025.

The Board also directed that every step should be taken immediately to begin the mobilization of all “mobilizables” to ensure that COSON WEEK 2025 is, in every way, unforgettable”.

Continuing, Chief Tony Okoroji, the creator of the famous Nigerian Music Awards that played host to Presidents, Governors, Ministers, Ambassadors and stars from around the world, said, “COSON Week is the flagship week of our great society, during which we roll out wall-to-wall high-profile events to entertain, to inform, to communicate, to educate and to project an unassailable brand.

COSON week 2025 will bring joy to many. We will deploy the events of COSON Week 2025 to tell Nigerians that despite the difficulties we face, all is not lost. We will use COSON Week 2025 to propagate the importance of creativity and entertainment to the economic and socio-political well-being of Nigeria”.

Chief Okoroji went on to say: “We are now at the planning stage of COSON Week 2025. We intend to mobilize all “mobilizables” as ordered by the Board. As we enter the new year, we will begin to unfold the different events, the venues and their specific attractions. One thing I can assure you is that COSON Week 2025 will be truly unforgettable. Please, fasten your seat belts!”.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Pop Singer Davido Congratulates Ghana’s President-elect, Mahama

Published

on

By

Famous musician, Davido, has congratulated John Dramani Mahama, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), on winning the December 7 elections.

In a post shared with his millions of followers on X, Davido, whose real name is David Adedeji Adeleke, celebrated the news with a simple yet joyful post.

Mahama, who was president of Ghana between July 2012 and January 2017 has also been congratulated by his main opposition Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia

Tourism packages

In a concession speech delivered on Sunday, Mr Bawumia, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, stated that internal data from his party indicates that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has secured victory in both the presidential and parliamentary polls.

“Let me say that the data from our own internal collation of the election results indicate that former President John Dramani Mahama has won the presidential election decisively,” Bawumia said.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Jay-Z Tops Forbes’ Greatest Rappers of All Time List

Published

on

By

Forbes has named American rapper, Sean Carter aka Jay-Z, as the greatest rapper of all time.

The publication recently released its 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time list, celebrating the best in the hip-hop world.

Jay-Z topped the list, followed by Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, J. Cole, and Tupac at numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively.

Drake, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Nas, and Eminem complete the top 10.

Also on the list are Andre 300 (11), The Notorious B.I.G (12), Missy Elliott (13), Chuck D (14), A$AP Rocky (15), Lil’ Kim (16), Tyler, the Creator (17), Snoop Dogg (18), Ghostface Killah (19) and Common (20).

Popular names in hip-hop like 50 Cent, Ice Cube, Juice WRLD, Lauryn Hill, Dr. Dre, Queen Latifah, Busta Rhymes, Future, Childish Gambino, Bad Bunny, Pusha T, Cardi B and Young Thug, rank at number 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 40, 46, 48 and 49, respectively.

Continue Reading

Trending