Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen made it through to the quarter-finals of the Taipei WTA Ladies Open after a 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 victory over Caroline Garcia of France at the Taipei Arena yesterday.
Chang now faces a tough match today against second seed and world No. 54 Olga Govortsova of Belarus, who beat 17-year-old Russian Irina Khromacheva 6-4, 6-2.
Meanwhile, Misaki Doi of Japan, the No. 7 seed, beat 483rd-ranked Taiwanese qualifier Hsu Wen-hsin 6-2, 6-3 to leave Chang as the sole home player left in the singles competition.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas continued her good form by thrashing Varatchaya Wongteanchai of Thailand 6-1, 6-0 in only 57 minutes. On Wednesday Diyas knocked out top seed and 2010 champion Peng Shuai of China in straight sets.
The Kazakhstani’s dominance was such that she did not face a break point, and her serving, which proved potent against Peng, continued to impress, with 80 percent of her first serves landing in.
Next up for the 19-year-old is Kurumi Nara of Japan, who beat Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn in three sets on Wednesday.
Today’s other singles clash pits Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm against promising French teenager Kristina Mladenovic.
In the doubles yesterday, Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei and Date-Krumm beat Taiwanese pair Hsu Ching-wen and Lee Ya-hsuan 6-3, 6-2, while Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Mladenovic defeated Wongteanchai and Thai compatriot Luksika Kumkhum 6-3, 6-4.
Taiwanese duo Kao Shao-yuan and Lee Hua-chen beat Julia Glushko of Israel and Zheng Saisai of China 7-6 (7/2), 2-6, 11-9.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set