Chan Yung-jan produced a thrilling comeback to beat Kristina Mladenovic 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 yesterday and earn a place in the OEC Taipei Ladies Open singles final. The fourth seed will face Japan’s Ayumi Morita, who saw off a gutsy challenge from Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen, ending the prospect of an all-Taiwanese clash at the Taipei Arena today.
The fifth game of the first set of Chan’s match proved pivotal. First, a double-fault by Chan left the score at deuce, before the Taiwanese put a straightforward overhead shot into the net to give Mladenovic a break-point. The 16-year-old Frenchwoman then hit a good backhand that sent Chan the wrong way to earn the break and go 3-2 up.
Another break in the ninth game cost Chan the set.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Things looked bad for Chan when she dropped her serve in the second game of the next set and then twice failed to break Mladenovic’s serve despite a host of opportunities.
The crowd seemed to sense the need for Chan to do something remarkable to get back into the match and became increasingly vocal as her plight worsened and she found herself 2-5 down and serving to stay in the tournament.
Chan didn’t drop a point despite her perilous situation and the crowd were on their feet when she broke Mladenovic in the next game, although it took a double-fault from the Frenchwoman for Chan to win it.
Chan took the next game in style, before another disastrous double-fault by Mladenovic left Chan serving for the set.
The French teen wasn’t finished though and pushed Chan all the way in a see-saw 12th game that the Taiwanese eventually claimed when Mladenovic hit a forehand long.
Chan seemed to be gaining in confidence, hitting powerful forehands and backhands, but throughout her tall opponent remained composed. After a near miss in third game, Chan broke Mladenovic in the seventh game.
Chan served for the match at 5-4, but the drama wasn’t over as she failed to convert four match-points. Mladenovic then had a break-point, but could only put the ball into the net, before Chan ended the contest with a forehand that left her unseeded opponent stretching and unable to get her return back.
It was a great fightback by the Taiwanese, but Mladenovic deserves credit for pushing her more experienced opponent every inch of the way, making a mockery of her world ranking of 257.
After the excitement of the first contest, the second match of the day looked as if it might be an anti-climax as top seed Morita raced to a 5-0 lead in the first set of her clash with Chang. The Taiwanese third seed managed to claw back a couple of games, but the Japanese claimed a hard fought eighth game to take the set 6-2.
The second set was a different story as Chang overcame a rash of double-faults in the first game to give the world No. 78 a real run for her money, despite being broken in the third game.
The 18-year-old Taiwanese belied her slim build to hit the ball impressively hard and broke back in the eighth game. She wasn’t afraid to go for her shots and produced some stunners as the set went into a tie-break.
The first five points went against serve, before Morita started to stamp her authority on proceedings and eventually claimed the tie-break 7-2.
Chan and Morita are both chasing their first title of the season, but the higher-ranked Morita, who has yet to drop a set at the tournament, should start as favorite for today’s final. Chan, however, has showed in hard-fought quarter-final and semi-final wins that she will be no pushover.
Yesterday’s doubles results:
• Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung (Taiwan) defeated O. Kalashnikova (Georgia) and A. Panova (Russia) 6-1, 6-4
• Y. Basuki (Indonesia) and R. Zalameda (US) defeated Chan Chin-wei (Taiwan) and Yan Zi (China) 6-4, 6-2
■BALI
AFP, DENPASAR, INDONESIA
French top seed Marion Bartoli will face compatriot Aravane Rezai in the Bali Tournament of Champions’ title clash today.
Top seed Bartoli survived a late fight by Japanese veteran Kimiko Date Krumm to win their semi-final 6-1, 6-3 yesterday.
Later, Rezai had a smoother ride against Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, beating her 6-2, 6-3 in 64 minutes.
Bartoli has won both encounters against Rezai, the latest just over a month ago in the second round in Tokyo.
At first, Bartoli, the only seed remaining from the 12 women who began the week in this tropical resort, looked like she would need less than an hour to wrap up with ease her rout of 39-year-old Date Krumm, the oldest woman on the WTA Tour.
To complicate matters, however, Date Krumm suddenly showed some of the form that made her a star more than a decade ago.
The Japanese veteran, who retired a dozen years ago and then revived her career last season, denied Bartoli a match-winner in the sixth game of the second set, with the Frenchwoman leading a set and 5-1.
Date proceeded to find new life with a break for 2-5 and a hold in the next game.
Bartoli, the 2006 finalist when Bali was a regular WTA event, saved two break-points and came through on a third match-point a game later to close out victory in 1 hour, 25 minutes.
The 25-year-old French winner fired seven aces and broke six times in the showdown of generations.
The event features the 10 highest ranked players who have won a WTA International title this year, but who did not compete in the WTA Championships in Qatar, which ended last weekend. Two wild-cards were also included.
Bartoli, a Wimbledon finalist in 2007, is seeking her third title of the season, after Stanford and Monterrey.
Rezai was undaunted by seven aces from Martinez Sanchez, breaking four times, while never facing a break-point.
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