Chan Yung-jan (詹詠然) won her second consecutive WTA Tour doubles title at the Aegon International in Eastbourne, England, on Saturday as the Taiwanese and Martina Hingis head to Wimbledon among the favorites to land the third Grand Slam title of the year.
Having lost just six games in their unstoppable march to the final, the second seeds finally came up against some resistance from Australian duo Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua, but they were not to be denied as they completed a 6-3, 7-5 victory in 1 hour, 19 minutes on the south coast of England.
The Taiwanese-Swiss pairing saved seven of 10 break points and converted five of nine to claim their fifth title of the season and their second consecutive trophy on grass following their victory at the Mallorca Open over the previous weekend.
Photo: Facebook screen grab
Chan and Hingis also claimed the titles at Indian Wells, Rome and Madrid earlier this season.
On their way to the final, the second seeds routed US duo Lauren Davis and Alison Riske 6-1, 6-2 in 48 minutes; Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-0 in 49 minutes; and Nicole Melichar of the US and Anna Smith of Britain 6-0, 6-1 in 43 minutes.
They next head to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London, where they are seeded third and are due to take on Alize Cornet of France and Xenia Knoll of Switzerland in the first round.
Joining them is Chan’s younger sister, Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴), who is partnering Monica Niculescu of Romania and is seeded ninth.
They are due to face Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay and Raluca Olaru of Romania in the first round.
The Chan sisters headline a large Taiwanese presence in the women’s doubles at Wimbledon, with Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic taking on seventh seeds Julia Goerges of Germany and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic; Chang Kai-chen (張凱貞) and Sloane Stephens of the US facing Chinese duo Duan Yingying (段瑩瑩) and Liang Chen (梁辰); and Chuang Chia-jung (莊佳容) and Misaki Doi of Japan taking on Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia and Francesca Schiavone of Italy.
In the women’s singles, Chang is taking on China’s Wang Qiang (王薔) and Hsieh Su-wei faces British sixth seed Johanna Konta, whose participation is in doubt due to a spine injury sustained in Eastbourne on Friday.
In the men’s singles, Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun (盧彥勳) is taking on Simone Bolelli of Italy, while in the men’s doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Cheng-peng (謝政鵬) and Max Schnur of the US are due to face Marcin Matkowski of Poland and Max Mirnyi of Belarus.
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