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Nation’s best set to hit the courts in Taipei Ladies Open

Taiwan’s leading female tennis players will be in action this week at the Taipei Ladies Open, which starts tomorrow.

The nation’s top two singles players, Chan Yung-jan and Chang Kai-chen, will take to the courts of the Taipei Arena along with a host of international players for the US$100,000 tournament that runs until next Sunday.

Chan’s form has picked up of late after she suffered a foot injury earlier in the year. The 20-year-old world No. 113 reached the semi-finals of the ITF Tokyo 3 last month and the quarter-finals of the WTA tour event in Seoul in September.

Chang stunned the tennis world by beating world No. 1 Dinara Safina at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in September and also qualified for this year’s US Open, beating 25th seed Kaia Kanepi in the first round before losing to Magdalena Rybarikova in three sets in round two.

The 18-year-old rising star has seen her ranking leap from 238 at the end of last year to its current position of 104.

Top seed Peng Shuai of China has a good chance of singles and doubles triumphs. The Chinese is the only competitor with a singles ranking inside the world top 50 and has won three doubles titles this year with Taiwanese partner Hsieh Su-wei, who will also be in action.

Among the other competitors is Japanese No. 2 Kimiko Date-Krumm, who capped a remarkable return to pro tennis after nearly 12 years of retirement by winning the Korea Open in September, a day shy of her 39th birthday.

Although left-handed she plays right-handed to follow Japanese custom, without adverse effect, as demonstrated by a career-high ranking of No. 4 in the world and two Grand Slam semi-final appearances.

Another player to look out for, or perhaps listen out for, is Michelle Larcher De Brito. The 16-year-old has been tipped by leading coach Nick Bolletieri as a possible top 10 player of the future. However, the Portuguese caused a stir at this year’s French Open and Wimbledon tournaments when her on-court grunting caused some consternation.

At Roland Garros, opponent Aravane Rezai went so far as to complain to the match referee that the noise was distracting her, while British newspaper the Sun described Larcher De Brito as the loudest player on the circuit, estimating some of her grunts at 109 decibels — as much noise as a Formula 1 car.

Defending champion Jarmila Groth won’t be back this year after surgery on an injured foot last month ended her season prematurely. Groth, who got married earlier this year and changed her surname from Gajdosova, beat Italy’s Corinna Dentoni in last year’s final.
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