Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei cruised into the semi-finals of the Guangzhou Open singles tennis tournament yesterday, but there was disappointment for her fellow countrywomen in the doubles competition.
Hsieh sprinted to a 6-3, 6-0 victory over France’s Mathilde Johansson yesterday to set up a semi-final clash with fourth seed Urszula Radwanska in the Chinese city today.
Poland’s Radwanska defeated fifth seed Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa 6-1, 7-5 in her quarter-final.
On the other side of the draw, third seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania beat No. 8 seed Alize Cornet of France 6-4, 6-3 to set up a semi-final against Britain’s Laura Robson, who battled past seventh seed Peng Shaui of China 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.
Taiwanese players were less impressive in the doubles
Hsieh Su-wei and her partner, Hsieh Shu-ying, were knocked out by Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn and China’s Zhang Shuai, who beat the Taiwanese duo 6-3, 3-6, 13-11.
Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan retired feeling dizzy for a second time this week.
On Tuesday she retired from her singles match with Zheng Jie of China, then yesterday, playing with Chan Hao-ching, she retired again when 5-1 down to Han Xinyun and Liu Nannan
Chang Kai-chen also exited along with her partner, Japan’s Shuko Aoyama, after they were beaten 6-1, 4-6, 14-12 by Tetiana Luzhanska of the US and China’s Zheng Saisai.
? KOREA OPEN
Top seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark coasted into the quarter-finals of the Korea Open yesterday, defeating qualifier Caroline Garcia of France 6-2, 6-3, while fourth seed Nadia Petrova of Russia pulled out of the tournament in Seoul with a lower-back injury.
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain benefitted from Petrova’s decision to withdraw before their second-round match.
All the other seeds advanced, No. 6 Varvara Lepchenko of the US defeating Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-4, 6-1; No. 7 Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic seeing off Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-1, 7-6 (8/6); and No. 8 Ekaterina Makarova of Russia downing qualifier Jamie Hampton of the US 6-3, 7-5.
In yesterday’s other match, Austria’s Tamira Paszek cruised past wild-card Lee So-ra of South Korea 6-2, 6-0.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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