Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan advanced to the quarter-finals of the singles competition at the OEC Taipei WTA Challenger yesterday, while fellow Taiwanese Asian Games gold medalist Hsieh Su-wei crashed out in the first round at the Taipei Arena.
World No. 212 Chan saved seven of nine break-point chances and converted four of 10 to battle to a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Ekaterina Bychkova in 1 hour, 42 minutes on Center Court, despite the Russian world No. 155 serving 13 aces to Chan’s three.
In the quarter-finals Chan is due to face fourth seed Alla Kudryavtseva, after the 98th-ranked Russian defeated Misaki Doi of Japan 6-4, 6-4 in the second round yesterday.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
In yesterday’s other second-round matches, second seed Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand defeated Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia 6-4, 6-4 and sixth seed Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia eased to a 6-3, 6-1 win over China’s Duan Ying-ying.
In the first round, Hsieh slumped to a comprehensive 6-2, 6-1 defeat to seventh seed Wang Qiang of China, with the Taiwanese world No. 144 failing to create a single break-point chance.
In other first-round matches, top seed Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany rallied from a set down to defeat Katerina Vankova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-1, 6-2; eighth-seeded Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm lost 7-5, 6-2 to Romanian qualifier Ana Bogdan; and Poland’s Magda Linette eased past Tadeja Majeric of Slovenia 6-4, 6-0.
In the first round of the doubles, Hsieh Su-wei’s younger sister, Hsieh Shu-ying, teamed up with China’s Xu Yi-fan for a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Ankita Raina of India and Vankova in just 48 minutes.
The fourth-seeded cross-strait duo saved three of three break-point chances and converted four of five to set up a quarter-final clash with Chinese duo Zhang Kai-lin and Han Xinyun, who defeated Taiwan’s Lee Pei-chi and Zhang Ying of China 6-2, 6-3.
Also advancing to the quarter-finals of the doubles were Taiwan’s Lee Ya-hsuan and Majeric, who rallied from a set down to beat Taiwanese pairing Cho I-hsuan and Hsu Ching-wen 5-7, 6-3, 10-4 in 1 hour, 30 minutes.
Lee and Majeric saved one of four break-point chances and converted four of 12 to set up a quarter-final against second seeds Arina Rodionova of Australia and Olga Savchuk of Ukraine, who defeated Linette and Hong Kong’s Zhang Ling 6-4, 6-1 yesterday.
Third seeds Chan Chin-wei of Taiwan and China’s Liang Chen were leading Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Alexandra Riley of the US 6-2, 1-1 at press time last night.
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