Taiwanese No. 1 Lu Yen-hsun exited the men’s singles at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in the second round yesterday, while compatriot Chuang Chia-jung crashed out in the first round of the women’s doubles.
World No. 61 Lu was ousted by top seed Kei Nishikori of Japan in just under an hour in Acapulco, Mexico, with the world No. 5 cruising to a 6-1, 6-3 victory.
Nishikori saved four of five break-point chances and converted five of six to advance to a quarter-final meeting with fifth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, who beat Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria 6-2, 6-3.
Photo: EPA
“The wind was not as strong as it was in the first round and I was able to play my game,” Nishikori told Kyodo news agency. “It has been a while since my serve was that good. When you serve well it makes [the rest of] your game easier.”
Also advancing to the quarter-finals on Wednesday were second seed David Ferrer of Spain, fourth seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa, sixth seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, qualifier Ryan Harrison of the US, Croatian Viktor Troicki and Australian Bernard Tomic.
In the first round of the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Chuang and Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland were comprehensively beaten 6-2, 6-2 by top-seeded Czech duo Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in 1 hour, 5 minutes.
In the second round of the women’s singles there were victories for top seed Maria Sharapova of Russia, third seed Caroline Garcia of France, fifth seed Bacsinszky, lucky loser Sesil Karatantcheva of Bulgaria, Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova, Swede Johanna Larsson, Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and Monica Puig of Puerto Rico.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
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