Latisha Chan (詹詠然) and Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) on Saturday clawed their way to the Nature Valley International women’s doubles title in Eastbourne, England.
The Taiwanese sisters defeated Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium and Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US 2-6, 6-3, 10-6 to take home the pairs title for the first time since 2014.
It was their 13th doubles title, and the third Nature Valley International title for Latisha and a second for Hao-ching.
Photo: CNA
The sisters got off to a slow start in the first set, but staged a comeback, winning the second set and forcing a super tiebreak.
In the tense first-to-10 decider, they stepped up their game to win 10-6.
Latisha Chan, the former doubles world No. 1, had plenty of praise for their opponents afterward.
“The first set they were playing very aggressive, and then they were playing very well — it’s really hard to tell it was their first time playing together,” she was quoted by the WTA as saying.
“We were just staying focused, concentrating, and we knew we would have our chance to come back, and we just played our tennis, not to play the score,” she said.
The Chan sisters won the Eastbourne title in 2014, when they beat Switzerland’s Martina Hingis and Italy’s Flavia Pennetta.
Latisha Chan later paired up with Hingis, winning the title again with her in 2017.
“The fans here support singles, doubles, men’s, women’s — they come out and give the best support that they can,” she told the WTA.
Latisha Chan also said that she also enjoyed Eastbourne’s atmosphere.
“It’s huge for players, to bring our best performances,” she said.
Next stop for Chan sisters is Wimbledon, which opens today and where they are to compete in the women’s doubles and the mixed doubles.
“We are very happy to have won here, to [give us] confidence to play Wimbledon,” Chan Hao-ching told the WTA.
“We hope we can have really good results at Wimbledon,” she added.
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