Taiwan’s players were handed a tough task on Saturday in the draw for the Wimbledon singles competitions that start today.
Taiwanese No. 1 and the world No. 56 in the men’s singles, Lu Yen-hsun, who reached the quarter-finals at the All England Club in 2010, faces world No. 48 Ryan Harrison of the US in the first round.
While the 1.83m tall American is eight spots above Lu in the rankings, he has only ever reached the second round at a Grand Slam tournament, so Lu’s experience may see him into the second round.
Photo: EPA
Taiwan’s Jimmy Wang, ranked 207th in the world and who came through the qualifying tournament, faces No. 17 seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain in his first-round match.
Verdasco reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2006, 2008 and 2009, and he will be a formidable opponent for the inexperienced Wang.
In the women’s singles, world No. 111 Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan has been drawn against Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic, who is ranked 90th.
Chan’s previous best performance was a second-round appearance in 2010, while Hlavackova also reached the second round in 2010 and last year.
Taiwan’s other representative in the women’s singles, Hsieh Su-wei, the world No. 63 who won in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year, faces France’s Virginie Razzano, ranked No. 91.
Razzano’s best performance at Wimbledon was a fourth-round appearance in 2009, while Hsieh has reached the second round only once, back in 2008.
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