Welcome to the latest edition of "Hot Shots," a USOpen.org-curated look at what you may have missed on social media over the past week. The Asian swing is well underway on both the ATP and WTA tours, including action in Beijing and Tokyo.
Japan's Misaki Doi, who competed in the US Open women's singles main draw nine times and reached a career-high WTA ranking of world No. 30 in 2016, played in her last professional tournament this week in Tokyo.
The 32-year-old successfully qualified for the main-draw at the WTA 500 event in her home nation, and she earned a first-round win against Petra Martic before a defeat to Maria Sakkari brought her farewell tournament to an end.
Following the match, Sakkari embraced Doi at the net. The Japanese star was presented with flowers during an on-court ceremony, and she also received plenty of proverbial flowers from her fellow competitors on social media.
Iga Swiatek was among those to wish her well.
Following their Tokyo second-round match, Sakkari kept the spotlight on her opponent during her on-court interview.
“I don’t want to talk about me today. It was an honor to play against Misaki in her last ever match," she said, before directly addressing Doi. "You deserve to enjoy life. You deserve to enjoy yourself, have some fun. We know how tough tennis life is. Take some time. I’m sure you’ll find a way to find something special again... It was an honor to play you.”
Sakkari is currently on a seven-match winning streak across tournaments in Guadalajara and Tokyo. The Greek won the Guadalajara WTA 1000 title without dropping a set as the second seed, winning the final on Saturday before opening her Tokyo campaign against Doi on Thursday.
On Friday, she beat Caroline Garcia to set up a semifinal showdown with Jessica Pegula.
Chris Evert was among those to congratulate Sakkari after her Guadalajara triumph, during which she thrilled the local fans by sporting a Mexican soccer jersey.
The ATP Tour is in Beijing and Astana this week, with eight of the Top 10 in action at the ATP 500 in China.
Carlos Alcaraz returned to action exactly three weeks after he exited the US Open in the semifinals, scoring a straight-sets win against Yannick Hanfmann on Friday in his Beijing debut.
Andrey Rublev also made a winning start in Beijing, beating Cameron Norrie in three sets on Friday. The fifth seed travelled to China from Vancouver, where he competed with Team Europe at Laver Cup.
While Rublev and Europe were not able to reclaim the trophy from John McEnroe's Team World, the "naturally iconic" 25-year-old won some hearts by sharing words of wisdom about the importance of being yourself.
Finally, Billie Jean King remembered the 2003 passing of American tennis pioneer Althea Gibson, a sculpture of whom stands proudly at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Gibson broke the color barrier in tennis with her debut at the U.S. National Championships at Forest Hills in 1950 and was the first Black American to win a Grand Slam title, taking the singles crown at Roland Garros in 1956. She later won the Wimbledon and U.S. titles in both 1957 and 1958.
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