Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Chan Hao-ching were edged out of the semi-finals of the doubles at the Hong Kong Open yesterday.
The top-seeded Taiwanese sisters rallied after losing the first set at the Victoria Park Tennis Stadium, but they lost in the super tiebreak to another pair of sisters, third-seeded Czech duo Karolina and Kristyna Pliskova, who won 6-4, 4-6, 10-6.
The Chan sisters saved three of the six break-point chances they faced and converted a perfect three of three, but it was not enough as they fell to the narrow loss in 1 hour, 27 minutes.
The Pliskova sisters are set to face the conquerors of Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Hsieh Shu-ying in today’s final, after Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria and Arina Rodionova of Australia defeated Chinese pairing Wang Yafan and Zheng Jie 6-4, 0-6, 10-7 in 1 hour, 13 minutes in the earlier semi-final.
In the singles semi-finals, top seed Sabine Lisicki is to face-off against the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova after both players ploughed through toughly contested semi-final matches yesterday.
Germany’s Lisicki defeated former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in the semi-finals of the US$250,000 WTA tournament.
Lisicki, who defeated China’s Zheng Saisai 6-4, 6-3 on Friday, stumbled in the second set following a feisty performance by the unseeded Schiavone, but bounced back to win the match in a decisive third set.
“It was a great semi-finals, not only for the crowd, but for us as well with long, fun rallies. It’s always fun to play those kinds of matches and come out on top,” Lisicki told reporters in a post-match press conference.
“I just got fired up, I really wanted to win, I really wanted to get to the finals badly,” Lisicki said, adding that Schiavone was a “great fighter.”
In another three-set match, Pliskova dispatched Belgium’s Van Uytvanck, who put up a hardy performance, in about two hours of play in the scorching heat.
Third-seeded Pliskova had beaten China’s Zheng Jie easily on Friday, but Van Uytvanck, who defeated the second seed Daniela Hantuchova in the second round, had put up a strong fight.
Ranked No. 36 in the world, Pliskova set the tempo early in the match against Van Uytvanck, world No. 91, but lost momentum in the second set. The Czech ultimately won the match 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
“Now I’m in the finals, I would like to win the title this year,” Pliskova, who lost her two finals appearances this year, told reporters after the match.
Pliskova, who beat former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic at the US Open last month, reached the finals for the February PTT Pattaya Open and Nuremberg Cup in May this year. She won the Malaysian Open last year.
“It’s going to be tough, but I’m really looking forward to it,” Lisicki said of playing Pliskova in the finals today.
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