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.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
RSS