Taiwan won Pool B of the Asia/Oceania zone of the Fed Cup in New Zealand yesterday with a 3-0 win over India, earning a playoff match against Group A winner Thailand today. The victor of today's match will advance to the World Group II playoffs in July.
The Taiwanese women finished with a perfect 4-0 record in the round robin after also defeating Kazakhstan, New Zealand and Jordan earlier in the tournament. The team lost just one of its 12 matches over five days of play.
Chan Chin-wei (詹瑾瑋) got yesterday's contest off to a good start with a quick 6-3, 6-2 win over Shikha Uberoi. In the next singles match Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) defeated Sunitha Rao by the same score to clinch the round. For good measure Hwang I-suan (黃怡萱) and Hsu Wen-hsin (許文馨) took the doubles match against Tara Iyer and Ankita Bhambri in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0.
In the US, Chan Yung-jan (詹詠然) recovered from a shaky start to advanced to the quarter-finals of the International Tennis Federation tournament in Dothan, Alabama, yesterday. She defeated France's Irena Pavlovic 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 and will next play American Julie Ditty, who easily beat third-seeded Ashley Harkleroad 6-1, 6-2.
There were no surprises in the women's doubles as first-seeded Chan and partner Chuang Chia-jung (莊佳容) breezed past Americans Ahsha Rolle and Abigail Spears 6-1, 6-3. They next play Venezuelan Milagros Sequera and American Aleke Tsoubanos, the fourth-seeded pair, in the semi-finals.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set