Taiwanese tennis players enjoyed mixed fortunes on the opening day of the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday. The nation's sole representative in the men's singles, Lu Yen-hsun, lost a five set marathon to France's Marc Gicquel, while in the women's singles Hsieh Su-wei beat Klara Zakopalova and Chan Yung-jan was defeated by Jill Craybas.
In a tight match on Court No. 11 Lu lost the first set before bouncing back to win the next two, the third set going to a tiebreak which the 24-year-old from Taipei took 8-6. The experienced Gicquel then claimed the fourth set and the deciding fifth to earn a 6-3, 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 victory.
Hsieh continued her good run of form from the qualifying tournament, where she won three times to earn a place in the main draw, by downing her Czech opponent 2-6, 6-4, 8-6. It was the 22-year-old's first singles match at the Australian Open and an impressive performance considering Zakapalova is ranked nearly a hundred places above the No. 158-ranked Hsieh. The Czech was ranked as high as 27 as recently as March 2006 but lost in the first round of all four Grand Slam tournaments last year.
Hsieh now faces No.19 seed Sybille Bammer in round two. The Austrian beat Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn in three sets yesterday.
It was the first time the right-hander from Taipei has made it into the second round of a Grand Slam singles event, having lost five times in the first round at Grand Slam events.
Meanwhile a disappointing Chan lost in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, to 33-year-old US veteran Jill Craybas, ranked 30 places below her.
She will now concentrate on the doubles where she teams up with fellow Taiwanese Chuang Chia-jung. The pair will be hoping to go one better than last year when they reached the final only to lose in three sets to Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Liezel Huber of South Africa.
Hsieh is also competing in the women's doubles with Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva.
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka yesterday got her season off to a winning start for Japan in the United Cup, after the UK’s Emma Raducanu pulled out of their singles clash with a fitness issue, while in Brisbane, Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Wu Fang-hsien crashed out of the women’s doubles. In Perth, despite Osaka’s win, the UK took the match 2-1 with a deciding mixed doubles victory. Osaka was too strong for reserve and 276th-ranked Katie Swan, winning 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 as Raducanu watched from the sidelines. “I’m proud of how I fought,” Osaka said. “I’d never played here, it was tough.” Britain
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