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.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS