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.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
‘SALAMI-SLICING’: Beijing’s ‘gray zone’ tactics around the Pratas Islands have been slowly intensifying, with the PLA testing Taiwan’s responses and limits, an expert said The Ministry of National Defense yesterday condemned an intrusion by a Chinese drone into the airspace of the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) as a serious disruption of regional peace. The ministry said it detected the Chinese surveillance and reconnaissance drone entering the southwestern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone early yesterday, and it approached the Pratas Islands at 5:41am. The ministry said it immediately notified the garrison stationed in the area to enhance aerial surveillance and alert levels, and the drone was detected in the islands’ territorial airspace at 5:44am, maintaining an altitude outside the effective range of air-defense weaponry. Following