US and Australian Open champion Osaka, who lost to Taiwanese veteran Hsieh in Miami last month, secured a place in the quarter-finals against Croatia’s Donna Vekic as she launched her preparations for Roland Garros.

The Japanese star arrived in Stuttgart, where she last played as a qualifier in 2017, after suffering early exits in her last three tournaments.

Osaka has admitted the difficulty of dealing with the trappings of fame and becoming the world’s top player in recent months, a period which saw her split with coach Sascha Bajin after the Australian Open.

“I am really grateful for everyone that has been really positive towards me. It was really rough the last couple of months. The kid was depressed out there.”

“If there is one positive thing that I can say about myself, it is that I learn quickly,” said Osaka, who reached the last eight of a tournament for the first time since her coaching split.

“Definitely I’ve put a lot on pressure on myself and found it hard to deal with in the first few tournaments.

“Now I start trying to have fun out there, which is what I did before I was number one.”

Osaka, 21, broke Hsieh three times in total to beat the Taiwanese for the second time in three attempts this year, having also defeated her on the way to lifting the title in Melbourne.

“I did feel like I am in control, but I also felt she is taking more risks than me,” said Osaka.

– ‘Tricky opponent’ –

“She’s a really tricky opponent. You never really know what she’s going to do.”

Osaka needed 84 minutes to dispatch the unconventional Hsieh, ensuring she will hold on to top spot in the rankings for at least another week.

She is less than 200 points ahead of Simona Halep in the WTA rankings, although the Romanian pulled out of this week’s tournament with a hip injury.

Top seed Osaka hit 22 winners and just 16 unforced errors.

Osaka will meet Vekic, a 6-1, 7-5 winner over Daria Kasatkina, for a spot in the last four, while Latvian seventh seed Anastasija Sevastova defeated 2017 champion Laura Siegemund 6-4, 6-3.

Sevastova will meet third-ranked Petra Kvitova next.

German number one Angelique Kerber, who won in Stuttgart in 2015 and 2016, put away good friend Andrea Petkovic on her fourth match point to progress 6-2, 6-4.

Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit eased past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-2, while Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens took down Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Defending champion Karolina Pliskova was later knocked out by former world number one Victoria Azarenka.

Two-time major winner Azarenka battled back to beat the fourth-seeded Czech 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and next faces Kontaveit.

Just 48 hours before Barcelona are set to be celebrating a 26th La Liga title at Camp Nou, Madrid drifted to a stalemate that leaves them 15 points behind the soon-to-be champions and, on this evidence, with significant ground to make up.

It says something that Getafe were, in the end, disappointed not to win here, Sevilla’s 5-0 thrashing of Rayo Vallecano before kick-off meaning they stay fourth, only by virtue of a superior head-to-head.

Real Madrid were mathematically ruled out of the title race after Barcelona beat Alaves on Tuesday while Atletico Madrid look likely to finish above them too for a second consecutive year.

Zinedine Zidane has insisted La Liga will be the club’s “bread and butter” next season, their priority ahead of the Champions League after seven years with only one league title to their name.

But they have work to do, with very few of his squad showing many reasons to keep them this summer and several more looking like they could well be replaced.

“The shame today is we deserved more,” Zidane said. “We created chances, in the first half especially. I am not happy with the result, but with the way we played, our concentration, I am happy.”

Getafe still have a lot to play for. If they snatch a Champions League spot, it would be one of the greatest shocks La Liga has seen in years, perhaps even trumping Atletico Madrid winning the title in 2014.

Their average attendance here is just under 10,000 while the club’s wage bill stands at a little less than 40 million euros. Madrid’s is close to 570 million.

Karim Benzema skewed wide of the far post with 62 seconds on the clock and Madrid hardly created a better chance for the rest of the half.

Gareth Bale started and was greeted by silence rather than the whistles that have accompanied him at the Santiago Bernabeu in recent weeks. But he looked low on confidence, a shadow of the player he can be.

Bale pulled back for Benzema, who could only find the hands of David Soria on the slide while Casemiro had an instinctive effort blocked from six yards.

But Getafe were largely untroubled even if they lacked creativity, their best opening coming from a free-kick which Mauro Arambarri caught well but Keylor Navas was equal to.

For 10 minutes, Madrid peppered the Getafe goal after the break. Soria came out quickly to deny Bale, pushed a Casemiro shot around the post and then saved from Isco, who should have scored after Dani Carvajal picked him out.

Bale and Brahim Diaz departed, replaced by Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez, but it was Navas that was called upon next, making two quick-fire saves to keep out Jorge Molina and Jaime Mata.

Mata wanted a penalty for a Carvajal push as Getafe looked more likely to find a late winner. It was not to be. Getafe’s Champions League dream hangs in the balance.

The 25-year-old Thai, who started the round in tied third, stayed blemish-free to hold a three-shot advantage over American Austen Truslow (67) in second place with his two-day total of 11-under-par 129 at the US$75,000 event.

Defending champion, Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat, was forced to withdraw after three holes as a precaution due to an ongoing knee injury.

Overnight leader Itthipat Buranatanyarat of Thailand (71) and countryman Prom Meesawat (68) were among six players bunched in tied-third at The Empire Hotel and Country Club.

Tawit enjoyed a solid ball-striking day, missing only two greens in regulation in his flawless round highlighted by six birdies.

“My putting was good today and I was striking my irons well. I made 16 greens today and most of my birdie putts were inside 15-feet. I had a good start which boosted my confidence, and I was just having fun and playing my own game all day,” said Tawit, who hails from Chantaburi.

The Thai, who last won on his local circuit in 2013, will employ the same carefree mindset in his bid for a breakthrough victory on the Asian Development Tour (ADT).

“The wind started to pick up in the second nine and I had to hit lower shots into the wind. But I still managed to stay out of trouble and come back bogey-free. I just want to have fun the next two days and see where that takes me,” added Tawit.

Truslow struggled with a slow start, dropping his first shot of the day on hole eight after missing a five-footer for par. He kept to his game plan to bounce back with four birdies in his back nine to move into contention.

“The first nine is a lot more difficult and I was playing fine just not making any putts. I knew if I kept playing the way I was playing I could make a few birdies on the back nine.

“I am chipping it well which helped me a lot today because I was able to take advantage of the holes I needed to. I’m pretty happy with my position right now its great to be in contention, it is what all of us play for,” said the American, who earned his Tour card at the 2019 Asian Tour Qualifying School.

Starting from the back nine, Prom traded three birdies for as many bogeys to turn in 35. He stayed bogey-free in his closing nine holes despite windier conditions, notching birdies on holes six and nine for an inward 33.

“I have been hitting it good the past two rounds. I made a couple of small mistakes here and there like on hole 12 when I bogeyed it from 75 yards, which was pretty disappointing,” said Prom.

“The wind started to pick up on the back nine so I was playing the holes differently but I played better on the back, probably because the temperature was cooler. I just hope I’ll be able to go lower the next two rounds,” added the two-time Asian Tour winner.

The halfway cut was set at one-over-par 141 with 50 players advancing to the final two rounds. Local prospect Qawiem Aslimon was the only Bruneian to make the cut following a 72.

The leading seven players on the final ADT Order of Merit will earn playing rights on the premier Asian Tour for the 2020 season.

All ADT events offer Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points. The winner will receive at least six OWGR points while the top six players and ties will also earn points based on a sliding scale.

The Organising Committee of the Butra Heidelberg Cement Brunei Championships has announced a charity drive through its “Birdies for Charity” program. Through the generous contributions of its donors, the program will receive B$10 for every birdie recorded during each round.

All pledges collected after four rounds will go directly to the Dana Pengiran Musa Mahkota Al-Muhtadee Billah for Orphans and the Pusat Ehsan Al-Ameerah Al-Hajjah Maryam.

Leading second round scores:

129 – Tawit Polthai 65 64

132 – Austen Truslow 65 67

134 – Casey O’Toole 65 69, Prom Meesawat 66 68, Wang Wei-lun 66 68, Lindsay Renolds 67 67, Itthipat Buranatanyarat 63 71, Sarit Suwannarut 66 68

135 – Poosit Supupramai 65 70, Suttijet Kooratanapisan 69 66, Naoki Sekito 68 67, Choo Tze Huang 70 65

136 – Shae Wools-Cobb 66 70, Miguel Carballo 70 66

Nadal, who is attempting to win the tournament for a record 12th time, was made to work hard for his 6-7 (7/9), 6-4, 6-2 victory as the world number two avoided a surprise defeat ahead of the start of the French Open next month.

Fellow Spaniard David Ferrer now awaits Nadal in the next round, with a place in the quarter-finals at stake. Nadal has won all of his last four meetings with Ferrer.

“It was a tough start, I didn’t have the feeling this afternoon. I just found a way to keep going and win,” admitted Nadal.

“He competed well and I was probably not competing that well. My attitude was solid but I had to work hard to stay in the tournament.”

Nadal, who has 25-6 winning record against Ferrer, added: “Playing David is never easy, especially since he’s such a friend. I’m expecting a tough match.”

Mayer, ranked 63rd in the world, had never beaten a top-five opponent in 15 attempts but was more than a match for a nervous-looking Nadal in the opening set.

Nadal will be gunning for title number 12 at Roland Garros too and this recovery will have given him much relief, after the 17-time major champion was a shock semi-final loser to Fabio Fognini at the Monte Carlo Masters last week.

A poor game allowed Nadal to break to love at 4-3 in the first set but Mayer hit back for 5-5 and held on for a tie-break.

Nadal looked in control after recovering from 3-1 and 4-2 down to set up two set points but he squandered both before Mayer took his chance at the first time of asking, a booming forehand enough to clinch the set.

An early break at the start of the second sent Nadal on his way and he served out at 5-4 to take the match to a decider.

Mayer seemed to have lost belief as he dumped a simple backhand volley into the net, allowing his opponent to seize a crucial break at 2-2.

From there, the momentum was set as Nadal whipped a forehand down the line for 5-2 and then served out to complete a hard-fought win.

“The last three holes became like more and more and more stressful for me,” said Jutanugarn when asked to describe the closing scene on Wilshire’s 18th hole. “People are always talking about the last hole, but I feel like the last three holes is just so much to deal with.”

Wilshire and its spectacular views of the Hollywood Hills made for a scenic backdrop to Jutanugarn’s first win. But in the hunt for her second win, she says that she just can’t bring herself to play favorites with any hole here – or any course, for that matter.

“You have to like every golf course you go and play, and just you can’t really say like it doesn’t fit my game or it really fits my game. You just have to deal with it,” said Jutanugarn, who has five top-15 finishes so far in 2019. “That’s what I learn from golf, is just you can’t just go and say you don’t like it. You just have to take action, whatever you have, whatever it is right now.”

There is already precedent in 2019 for a successful title defense. Just last week in Hawaii, Brooke Henderson won her second consecutive LOTTE Championship.

NOTABLE FIRST-ROUND GROUPINGS

Defending champion Moriya Jutanugarn tees off the 10th alongside Rolex Rankings No. 6 Lexi Thompson and Rolex Rankings No. 12 Jessica Korda at 7:44 a.m.

ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open winner and Rolex Rankings No. 10 Nelly Korda begins her Los Angeles journey off No. 1 at 12:44 p.m. with Rolex Rankings No. 11 So Yeon Ryu and Rolex Rankings No. 13 Danielle Kang

Rolex Rankings No. 1 Jin Young Ko tees off No. 1 at 12:55 p.m. with 2019 LOTTE Championship winner Brooke Henderson and Rolex Rankings No. 3 Ariya Jutanugarn

DESIGNATED HOLE FOR AON RISK REWARD CHALLENGE

The season-long Aon Risk Reward Challenge will highlight the world’s best professional golfers as they tackle the most strategically challenging holes across both the LPGA Tour and PGA TOUR schedules. The player from each Tour on top of the Aon leaderboard at the end of the regular season will receive a $1 million prize. The scoring system is identical on both the LPGA Tour and PGA TOUR, and players will take their best two scores from each Aon Risk Reward Challenge hole, with the winners having the best average score to par at the end of the season. Players must play a minimum of 40 rounds throughout the season. The Challenge runs across regular season tournaments (29 LPGA Tour; 36 PGA TOUR).

The designated Aon Risk Reward Challenge hole at the HUGEL-AIR PREMIA LA Open is the 15th. This par 5 gives a player the chance to go for the green in two but she needs to balance the risk with the reward and navigate the 14 bunkers that protect this hole. A bunker down the right side of the fairway requires a carry of 240 yards so an accurate drive is essential here. The green is protected by a deep creek in front that also wraps around the back so club selection is important, especially when the pin is cut front right or back left.

For more information about the Aon Risk Reward Challenge, visit www.lpga.com/statistics/aon-risk-reward-challenge.

BRUCE BENNETT NOMINATED FOR LPGA’S AXA LPGA VOLUNTEER SERVICE AWARD

Bruce Bennett has served as part of the Volunteer Services Committee for both HUGEL-AIR PREMIA LA Opens. According to tournament officials, he volunteers all week and is a friendly face for all the volunteers as they check in. Bruce has volunteered at many sporting and philanthropic events in the greater Los Angeles area, and calls Dottie Pepper his favorite player. The tournament is proud to recognize Bruce as an outstanding volunteer from the HUGEL-AIR PREMIA LA Open for the 2019 AXA LPGA Volunteer Service Award.

Bernardo Silva and Leroy Sane struck for the visitors in 12 second-half minutes at Old Trafford to inflict a seventh defeat in nine games on United, who remain three points adrift of the top four.

City have now won 11 straight Premier League games and further victories over Burnley, Leicester and Brighton will ensure Liverpool’s 29-year wait to win the title continues no matter what Jurgen Klopp’s men do in their remaining three games.

United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made five changes in response to his side’s 4-0 humiliation at Everton on Sunday and was rewarded with a far more energetic and committed performance even if City’s greater quality eventually shone through.

Yet, Arsenal’s defeat at Wolves means the Red Devils are still very much in the race for Champions League qualification, should they beat fourth-placed Chelsea at home on Sunday.

Guardiola made just three changes from the team that gained some measure of revenge on Tottenham for their Champions League elimination last week, but the decision to recall captain Vincent Kompany seemed a questionable one early on as the Belgian struggled to deal with United’s pace up front.

Kompany was booked for barging Marcus Rashford just 10 minutes in as United enjoyed a bright start.

Paul Pogba tested Ederson from long range before Jesse Lingard’s acrobatic volley from the Frenchman’s cross flew just wide.

United goalkeeper David de Gea’s form has dipped dramatically of late and it was another night to forget for the Spaniard as he could have done better for both goals.

And the differing performances of the two goalkeepers proved key as City stopper Ederson rushed from his goal to make a brilliant challenge at Rashford’s feet as the England striker raced in behind Kompany once more.

– United fitness –

Solskjaer has bemoaned United’s fitness levels in recent weeks and again after an early burst, they started to flag as City created a spurt of chances either side of half-time.

Firstly, Raheem Sterling shot too close to De Gea after weaving through a host of United bodies inside the area before Sergio Aguero dragged well wide when unmarked at the edge of the box.

Guardiola was forced into an early change in the second-half and showed his intent by replacing holding midfielder Fernandinho with the goal threat of Sane.

And that positivity was instantly rewarded when Bernardo cut inside onto his favoured left foot and beat De Gea at his near post.

Within a minute, City were inches away from doubling their lead when a fine team move teed up Aguero to smash the outside of the post.

United had one huge chance to level when Lingard failed to connect at the far post with the goal gaping.

Sane has been scarcely used by Guardiola of late, but the German, whose winning goal inflicted Liverpool’s only league defeat of the season in January, again showed his capability to make a difference in the biggest games.

Sterling led a City counter-attack before feeding Sane, whose powerful shot De Gea could not keep out.

City may have to wait another year for Champions League glory, but they are now bearing down on history in the English game with four games separating them from a first ever domestic treble.

Srisaket puts his 20-fight win streak and the World Boxing Council super flyweight title on the line in a rematch against Mexico’s Juan Francisco Estrada.

Unbeaten southpaw Doheny, the International Boxing Federation champion, will face World Boxing Association champion and hometown hero Daniel Roman in a super bantamweight title unification bout.

Srisaket, 47-4 with one drawn and 41 knockouts, took a February 2018 majority decision over Estrada at the Forum and the 32-year-old southpaw now defends for the fourth time the crown he took from Nicaragua’s Roman Gonzalez in 2017 in his US debut in New York.

“I’m excited to be back fighting in the US,” Rungvisai said. “Estrada is a great fighter and we had an amazing fight last year. I believe this fight will be even more entertaining. I’m confident I’ll be the winner.”

Srisaket has not lost since falling to Mexico’s Carlos Cuadras in May 2014.

Estrada, 38-3 with 26 knockouts, is a former WBA and WBO flyweight champion won has won twice since losing to the Thai star to earn another chance at the title.

“I’m extremely excited for this rematch,” Estrada said. “I’m getting ready to bring the title back to Mexico. I’m confident I’m going to win.”

Doheny, 21-0 with 15 knockouts, defends for the second time the IBF crown he took from Japan’s Ryosuka Iwasa last August.

“This is a fight you want to see. The best against the best, champion against champion,” Doheny said. “I’ve been asking for this fight since I won the world title and finally it’s here.

“There’s a lot of respect between myself and Danny… when that first bell goes, the respect will be gone out the window and the fans can expect fireworks.”

Roman, 26-2 with one draw and 10 knockouts, has won 18 fights in a row since dropping a 2013 decision to American Juan Reyes.

“This is the fight I wanted,” Roman said. “It’s a dream come true. I was looking to unify the first fight after winning the belt. I want the best in the division. For me that’s the champions.

“Finally, that’s happening and it’s in my backyard in Inglewood where I grew up, so I’m so excited. That has given me even more motivation to start my quest to hold all the belts.”

Should he beat Doheny, Mexico’s unbeaten Rey Vargas, the 33-0 WBC champion, would be next on Roman’s hit list.