Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai of China, Italian duo Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, and Russian pairing Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, who have won seven of the past eight women’s doubles Grand Slams, were all beaten in super tiebreakers on a day of upsets at the Western & Southern Open on Thursday.
Second seeds Hsieh and Peng were up a set and 4-2 against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic and they won eight more points than they lost, but their opponents won seven of the last eight points in their 3-6, 7-5, 10-5 second-round triumph.
Hsieh and Peng converted four of seven break-point chances, but they could only save one of five as they crashed out in 1 hour, 27 minutes, while their opponents go on to face seventh-seeded US duo Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears, who crushed their compatriots Melanie Oudin and Taylor Townsend 6-3, 6-1.
Probably the biggest surprise was sixth seeds Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France pulling off a 2-6, 6-1, 10-8 quarter-final defeat of top seeds Errani and Vinci, after the duo only managed to win four games in their previous encounter with the Italians in the Wimbledon final last month, while the Italians were on an 11-match winning streak.
After each pairing won a lopsided set, Babos and Mladenovic held steady in the super tiebreaker, winning the last two points from 8-8 to seal the victory in 1 hour, 9 minutes, and they are now the highest seeds left in the competition.
The most dramatic match of the day saw Spanish duo Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro overcome three match points in the super tiebreaker of their 7-6 (7/1), 1-6, 12-10 second-round victory over fifth seeds Makarova and Vesnina.
There was also another upset when Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain and Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova beat fourth seeds Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Sania Mirza of India 6-3, 6-3 to set up a quarter-final with eighth seeds Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia after they cruised past Marina Erakovic of New Zealand and Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain 6-3, 6-2 in an hour.
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