Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan dominated from start to finish as she overwhelmed Japan’s Tomoyo Takagashi 6-1, 6-1 at the Taipei Ladies Open yesterday.
The No. 1 seed broke Takagashi’s serve in the fourth game of the first set and from that point on it was downhill all the way for the 24-year-old Japanese.
Chan broke Takagashi again in the sixth game before racing away with the first set. The world No. 58 was more aggressive, hitting the ball with more power and serving better than her opponent.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Chan broke Takagashi again at the start of the second set, an impressive two-handed backhand down the line clinching the first game. Another break followed in the third game before the Japanese found herself serving to stay in the game at 1-5 down.
Three double faults followed for the world No. 436 as her brittle serve disintegrated altogether. She was put out of her misery when a forehand sailed long to hand Chan the win on her first match point.
Chan admitted she was a bit surprised at the ease of the victory as Takagishi is normally a solid player who doesn’t make too many mistakes. But Chan also thought that she was in good shape and had played aggressively.
Kimiko Date-Krumm fared much better than her compatriot in downing Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei 6-1, 6-3 to reach the last eight.
Joining the veteran Japanese were Jessica Moore, who beat fellow Australian Sophie Ferguson 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 and Corinna Dentoni of Italy who beat Germany’s Angelika Roesch 7-6, 7-6.
Chan faces Australian seventh seed Moore in a quarter-final clash today. Chan said Moore has a good forehand and is a pretty aggressive player but that she shouldn’t have too much of a problem as long as she keeps her rhythm and plays her normal game.
There were wins in the doubles yesterday for Hsieh Su-wei and Chuang Chia-jung, Chan Chin-wei and Chang Kai-chen, Chen Yi and Corinna Dentoni and Hsu Wen-hsin and Hwang I-husan.
No. 1 seeds Hsieh and Chuang had a stiff workout against Japanese duo Rika Fujiwara and Date-Krumm before earning a 6-4, 3-6, 10-3 victory. Additional reporting by CNA
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later