Chuang Chia-jung came down to earth with a bump yesterday, a day after pulling off a shock win against second seed Hsieh Su-wei at the OEC Taipei Ladies’ Open.
The 23-year-old from Kaohsiung lost in straight sets in her second-round singles clash to Japan’s Kumiko Iijima, but bounced back later on, teaming up with Hsieh in the doubles to defeat Jarmila Gajdosova and Jessica Moore 7-6(4), 6-4.
Chuang’s singles ranking has slipped from 177 to 477 since she decided to concentrate on doubles two years ago, but she wants to boost her singles ranking again. Her modest goal before the tournament was to win one at least one singles match.
Joining Iijima in the last eight of the singles was Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen, who dispatched her compatriot Hwang I-hsuan 6-4, 6-3.
“My coach wanted me to put in a good performance, not to win the match,” Chang, 17, said.
Although she is usually coached by her father, for this tournament Chang said he had hired an American coach who has stressed he would rather see Chang play well and lose than play badly and win.
After her singles triumph, Chang teamed up with Chan Chin-wei in a doubles match to breeze past sisters Chan Yung-jan and Chan Hao-ching 6-1, 6-2.
In other singles matches yesterday, sixth-seeded Slovakian Gajdosova beat Japan’s Tomoko Yonemura 6-2, 7-6(7) and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand beat Lenka Tvaroskova 6-1, 6-3.
In the doubles there were wins for Sophie Ferguson and Vanessa Henke, Nikola Fankova and Tvaroskova, Kimiko Date-Krumm and Rika Fujiwara and Taiwanese pair Hwang and Hsu Wen-hsin. The local duo beat Tomoyo Takagashi and Remi Tezuka of Japan 6-0, 6-3.
■ SWISS INDOORS
AFP, BASEL, SWITZERLAND
Roger Federer won his 11th successive match on his home court but had to fight hard to keep a hat-trick of victories at Basel on course at the Swiss Indoors on Tuesday.
The top-seeded local who has won the last two editions was cheered by a sellout crowd at the St Jakobshalle as he labored to defeat US player Bobby Reynolds 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3.
It was his 25th Basel match victory as he played for the ninth time in the city of his birth.
Reynolds made life tough for the top seed, saving a match point in the second-set tiebreaker and then leveling at one set each.
It took a determined Federer to put things right in the third set as he advanced precariously into the second round on his fourth match point in a shade under two hours.
Davis Cup teammates David Nalbandian and Juan Del Potro notched an Argentine double as attention shifted temporarily to Champions League soccer.
Local side FC Basel was to face off against Barcelona featuring Argentine international Lionel Messi in a group match yesterday.
Both Nalbandian and top-seeded hometowner Roger Federer are hoping to be in the stands at the stadium just across the road from the St Jakobshalle.
“I know Messi personally, so I’m sure he would get me a ticket if I asked,” second seed Nalbandian said after polishing off Albert Montanes 6-4, 6-2.
Federer is assured of a VIP seat for the soccer.
Third seed Del Potro, who will also attend the game, advanced over Swiss qualifier George Bastl 6-2, 6-4.
Italy’s Simone Bolelli scored an upset of seventh seed Tomas Berdych as the Tokyo champion from earlier this month exited 6-4, 7-5.
■ ST PETERSBURG OPEN
AP, ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
Second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko and last year’s finalist Fernando Verdasco won first-round matches at the St. Petersburg Open on Tuesday, while Marin Cilic and Mario Ancic were beaten in upsets.
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