Taiwan may well have a new tennis superstar in the making, and Melbourne witnessed just what he can do yesterday.
In the boys' singles competition at the Australian Open, 16-year-old tenth seed Yang Tsung-hua (楊宗樺) beat fourth seed Ryan Harrison of the US in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) in the semi-finals. He will meet fifth seed Bernard Tomic of Australia, who beat Yuki Bhambri of India 6-0, 5-7, 6-1, in today's final.
Yang, who has just been named in Taiwan's Davis Cup team, broke Harrison's serve in the first game of the match, and then held his serve to take the set 6-4.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
In the second set, both players held their serves until the eighth game, when Harrison broke Yang, only for Yang to break back in the following game, setting up a tie break. At 6-7 down in the tie break, Yang won both his serves to lead 8-7 and then immediately converted his first match point to take the tie breaker 9-7.
Yang then powered his way to the final by taking a one-sided third set 6-1 against a wilting Harrison.
Once Yang had completed that victory, he joined up with doubles partner Hsieh Cheng-peng (謝正鵬) to triumph in the boys' doubles tournament. They beat the second seeds, Vasek Pospisil of Canada and Cesar Ramirez of Mexico, 3-6, 7-5, 10-5.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
In the first set, both pairs held their serves through the sixth game. In the seventh Hsieh was broken, as was Yang in the ninth, giving their opponents a one set lead.
In the second set, Ramirez lost his serve at 5-6, handing Hsieh and Yang the second set.
The third set was the first pair to 10 games and Hsieh and Yang quickly took command, rushing to an 8-2 lead before finally winning the set 10-5.
Although Taiwan's Yi Chu-huan (易楚寰) won the boys' doubles together with South Korean Kim Sun-yong at the 2005 Australian Open, this win marks the first time an all-Taiwanese team has won a doubles championship of this stature.
Yang will be looking to better that in tomorrow afternoon's singles final. Either way, it looks like the start of a very promising career.
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Jannik Sinner continued his quest to become the first man in history to win five Masters 1000 tournaments in a row with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danish qualifier Elmer Moller at the Madrid Open on Sunday. The world leader extended his winning streak to 19 matches, a run that began early March in Indian Wells, and he has captured 24 consecutive victories at the Masters 1000 level, dating back to the Paris Masters last October. Searching for a maiden title at this level on clay, Sinner advanced to the round of 16 at the Caja Magica with a 77-minute performance against
When Paddy Dwyer arrived in China in 1976, crowds jostled to catch a glimpse of him and his companions — the first Western soccer team to play in the country. China was emerging from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and on the brink of market reforms that would take the country from economic stagnation to explosive growth. “All we could see was lines of people running beside our bus, trying to look in the windows, to see their first visual of a white person,” he said. “It was all bicycles,” he said. “There were very few cars to be seen.” Dwyer,
Tennis players are facing an unexpected opponent at the Madrid Open. A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and others, raising concerns. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she is trying to avoid illness by sticking to a diet of chicken breasts, rice and salad. The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame. Sabalenka knocked on wood for luck and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos,” she laughed, adding “I stick to the
RSS