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US OPEN 2008 : Taiwanese duo crash out of US Open

Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden serves to Jelena Jankovic of Serbia during their match at the US Open in New York on Wednesday. PHOTO: AP

After a terrific Tuesday for Taiwanese tennis it was a woeful Wednesday as third-seeds Chan Yung-jan (詹詠然) and Chuang Chia-jung (莊佳容) suffered a shock defeat in their first round doubles match at the US Open against Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears of the US.

The Americans won a close first set 7-5 before running away with the second 6-1 to win in straight sets.

It was a far cry from last year, when the Taiwanese duo reached the final at Flushing Meadows before losing to Nathalie Dechy of France and Dinara Safina of Russia.

There have been rumors circulating in the media that Chan and Chuang, who in addition to the US Open were runners up at last year’s Australian Open and made it to the quarter finals at the French Open both this year and last, will end their successful doubles partnership this year.

The defeat came just a day after all three Taiwanese taking part in the singles competitions won their matches on Tuesday

Chan needed to put her doubles disappointment behind her when she faced Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland yesterday in the second round of the women’s singles.

Two other Taiwanese players were lined up for action yesterday: Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇), who was due to face Russian Nadia Petrova, and Lu Yen-hsun (盧彥勳) who was to meet Italian Flavio Cipolla in the men’s singles.

It was to be a busy day for local players as Chan and Julian Knowle of Austria faced Australian pair Casey Dellacqua and Jordan Kerr in the mixed doubles while Hsieh was due to team up with Rika Fujiwara of Japan to play fifth-seeded Spanish duo Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual in the women’s doubles.

Meanwhile Lu and Jim Thomas of the US faced the daunting prospect of taking on No. 1 seeds Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia in the men’s doubles.

Meanwhile, Serbian stars Novak Djokovic and Jelena Jankovic hobbled to victory on center court while the Russian assault continued on day four of the US Open.

An ailing Djokovic overcame a left foot injury to defeat Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in his opening match, while Jankovic struggled with fatigue but held on to beat Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5 in their second round match on Wednesday.

“I had to be consistent and try to get a high percentage of my first serves in,” Djokovic said. “I didn’t return so well and I had a lot of ups and downs and big frustrations.”

“But it is the first match. It is always the trickiest one but hopefully the next one will be better,” he said.

Djokovic reached the final in New York last year where he lost to four-time reigning champion Roger Federer and has won three titles this year including his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.

The 21-year-old Serbian is also fresh off winning the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics.

“I played good tennis today, enough to win,” Djokovic said.

Djokovic moves through to the second round where he will face American Robert Kendrick.

In the third set against Clement, Djokovic twisted his left ankle while lunging for a shot on the main Arthur Ashe Stadium.

At the time he was two sets up and leading 2-1 in the third. After a 10 minute time out to get the ankle taped, the match resumed with Clement winning the next point to level the set at 2-2.

But Djokovic cruised from there winning four of the next five games, clinching the win in straight sets when Clement’s final shot sailed long.

The 23-year-old Jankovic has reached two semi-finals in Grand Slams this year (French Open and Australian Open) but has never made it to a final in 20 career major appearances.

Jankovic has six career singles titles but just one victory to show for her consistent play this year. The pesky Swede Arvidsson made Jankovic work for Wednesday’s win.

“It was really tough. I am completely out of breath,” second-seeded Jankovic said immediately after the two-hour, 45-minute match. “I was pushed to the limit.”

Jankovic moves through to the third round where she will face China’s Zheng Jie who beat Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-1, 6-4. Zheng reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon earlier this year.

Jankovic, who has suffered a string of injuries this year, took a couple of tumbles on Wednesday but got through the match unscathed.

Five Russians, including four seeded players, advanced on Wednesday while Vera Zvonareva became the first seeded Russian casualty.

Beijing Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva beat Pauline Parmentier of France 6-2, 6-1. Dementieva, the runner-up in 2004, is making her 10th straight US Open appearance.

“You have to find a way to win,” Dementieva said. “The most important thing is to stay positive in the difficult moments in the match even when you feel tired.”

Dementieva, who is ranked sixth in the world, moved through to the third round where she will face Great Britain’s Anne Keothavong.

Third-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Sorana Cirstea 7-6 (7/3), 6-1.

“It was all about the first set,” Russia’s Kuznetsova said. “When I got into a dangerous situation I started moving her around a little bit more. In the second set I was able to gain more confidence.”

Another Russian Olympian Zvonareva was sent crashing out of the event, losing her second round match 6-3, 6-3 to unseeded Tatiana Perebiynis.

Zvonareva was in the same side of the draw as Jankovic and Lindsay Davenport who beat another Russian Alisa Kleybanova 7-5, 6-3 in a night match.

In the other evening match, American eighth seed Andy Roddick defeated Frenchman Fabrice Santoro 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.

Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko dispatched Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in another men’s first round match.

Also See: US OPEN 2008: Keothavong flies flag for British women
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