Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen and Zheng Saisai of China claimed a berth in the semi-finals at the BMW Malaysian Open on a rain-interrupted day in Kuala Lumpur
Chang and Zheng saved three of six break-point opportunities and converted five of 11 to defeat Chinese duo Yang Zhaoxuan and Zhu Lin 6-4, 6-4 in 1 hour, 9 minutes on Court 2.
Chang and Zheng face another Chinese pairing in the semi-finals after Liang Chen and Wang Yafan rallied to defeat Han Xinyun of China and Junri Namigata of Japan 4-6, 6-1, 15-13 in their quarter-final.
Photo: EPA
Top seeds Darija Jurak of Croatia and Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic also advanced after a 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 victory over Naomi Broady of Britain and Carina Witthoeft of Germany.
In the second round of the singles, qualifier Elizaveta Kulicjkova of Russia crushed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-0, 6-2 to set up a quarter-final against either Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei or Misa Eguchi of Japan, who are due to play their second-round match today.
Also advancing were fourth seed Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia and sixth seed Kurumi Nara of Japan.
ABIERTO MONTERREY
Chan Chin-wei and Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan crashed out in the first round of the doubles at the Abierto Monterrey Afirme in Mexico on Tuesday.
Chan and Laura Thorpe of France lost to Eva Hrdinova of the Czech Republic and Paula Kania of Poland, despite fighting back to win the second set after being whitewashed in the first.
Hrdinova and Kania saved four of six break-point chances and converted five of seven to complete a 6-0, 6-7 (4/7), 10-7 victory in 1 hour, 48 minutes.
Chuang and Pauline Parmentier, another Taiwanese-French combination, crashed to a 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 defeat to Elena Bogdan and Nicole Melichar.
The Romanian-American duo saved six of seven break-point opportunities and converted three of six to complete the victory in 1 hour, 15 minutes.
In the singles, top seed Ana Ivanovic successfully negotiated the first round with a 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) victory over qualifier and former world No. 7 Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic.
The Serbian world No. 6 saved four of eight break-point chances and converted six of 12 to complete the victory in 1 hour, 12 minutes.
“When I saw I was going to play against her [Vaidisova] I knew it would be a tough match because she’s a great player,” Ivanovic told the WTA Web site. “She didn’t play for a while and now she wants to play again, and in the second set she was playing really well and making some really good shots out there. I’m happy I won the tiebreak because you never know what will happen in a third set.”
Ivanovic was due to face Parmentier in the second round yesterday after the Frenchwoman rallied from a set down to defeat Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
The only seeded player to slip up was Alison Riske, the American No. 6 losing 6-4, 6-0 to Vera Zvonareva of Russia.
Also advancing to the second round were second seed Sara Errani of Italy, third seed Caroline Garcia of France, fourth seed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland, fifth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, seventh seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, eighth seed Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, Urszula Radwanska of Poland, Timea Babos of Hungary, Francesca Schiavone of Italy, Polona Hercog of Slovenia, Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, Johanna Larsson of Sweden and Kristina Mladenovic of France.
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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