Fifth seed Sybille Bammer of Austria beat Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the Pattaya Open yesterday.
The Taiwanese youngster made a good start against her more experienced opponent but one of the few mother’s on the WTA circuit proved too good for the 19-year-old from Taoyuan.
The Taiwanese, who has set herself the target of reaching the world top 50 this year, beat Thailand’s Varatchaya Wongteanchai in three sets in the first round.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Taiwan’s other representative in the singles, Chan Yung-jan, also lost in the second round yesterday to Tatjana Malek.
The German won the first set 6-2 before Chan stormed back to take the second set without dropping a game.
The 22-year-old Malek took the match by winning a hard-fought final set 7-5.
In other action yesterday, No. 1 seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia beat Italy’s Alberta Brianti 6-3, 6-2 and Ekaterina Bychkova pulled off a surprise by beating third seeded compatriot Vera Dushevina 6-4, 6-1.
The 121st-ranked Moscow-born Bychkova has yet to win a WTA singles title
Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn stunned Sabine Lisicki on Wednesday, advancing to the quarter-finals with a battling 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory over the second seeded German.
The result continued a poor start to the 2010 season for Lisicki, who fell to Victoria Azarenka in her opening round in Sydney and then, ranked 24, she was upset in the second round of the Australian Open by 73rd-ranked Brianti.
The match was an absorbing contest between two players who rallied consistently well and made few unforced errors.
The final set hung in the balance until the end, as Lisicki broke to lead 4-2 when Tanasugarn double-faulted and Tanasugarn immediately broke back with a winning return.
Another unplayable return then gave Tanasugarn a further break for 6-5, and she safely served out the match.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
Also See: Roddick survives fightback in San Jose
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but