Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching crashed out of the first round of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, on Wednesday.
Chan, ranked 33rd in the world in doubles, and former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic were ousted by German duo Sabine Lisicki and Andrea Petkovic, despite fighting back from a set down to force a super tiebreak.
The Taiwanese-Serbian pairing fell to a 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 10-5 defeat in 1 hour, 26 minutes at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Photo: EPA
Chan and Jankovic saved three of six break-point chances, but they failed to convert any of the nine they created, while serving up six double faults to exit the tournament on the first day.
Fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei and Chuang Chia-jung were due to begin their women’s doubles campaigns yesterday.
Hsieh, the world No. 6, was due to team up with new partner Flavia Pennetta for the first time. The Taiwanese-Italian duo, seeded fourth, were due to take on Klaudia Jans-Ignacik of Poland and Andreja Klepac of Slovenia.
Hsieh’s former partner, Sania Mirza, and her new partner, former world No. 1 Martina Hingis of Switzerland, are the top seeds at Indian Wells.
Chuang, the world No. 68, and Silvia Soler Espinosa of Spain were due to face a tough first-round match against second-seeded Russian duo Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.
In the first round of the men’s singles, Taiwanese No. 1 Lu Yen-hsun, the world No. 59, has been drawn against world No. 58 Jack Sock of the US.
In the women’s singles on Wednesday, Monica Niculescu rolled over Aleksandra Krunic 6-2, 6-1 to book a second-round clash with Serena Williams, as the American returns to Indian Wells this week after a 14-year hiatus.
Reigning Australian Open champion Williams is one of 32 seeded players who received a first-round bye at the joint ATP and WTA tournament in the California desert.
Top seed Williams is competing in the tournament for the first time since her self-imposed exile began in 2001. She claimed two singles titles in 1999 and 2001.
“It’s exciting,” Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic said of Williams’ return to the event. “Obviously, you want to compete against the best.”
It will mark the first career meeting between Williams and Romania’s Niculescu when they square off tomorrow.
“I don’t really know what to expect because we haven’t played before, but obviously I know she has a lot of power and I know I’m going to run a lot. I’m just going to play my game,” Niculescu said.
Four-time men’s champion Roger Federer arrived in Indian Wells on Wednesday less than 24 hours after competing in an exhibition match against Grigor Dimitrov at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Federer, who won his seventh title in Dubai earlier this month, begins his Indian Wells campaign with a second-round match against either Jerzy Janowicz or Diego Schwartzman.
The world No. 2 said he is hitting the ball well and is feeling good about his chances this week.
“I don’t feel like I have that many bad days anymore,” Federer said. “Maybe sometimes you come out and it’s not working. That’s something that happened very few times in the years where I was very dominant. Otherwise, I feel like I am playing very well.”
Federer said he was going to use the time before his first match to adjust to the playing surface.
“I was always going to come here and make sure the first few days I get used to the courts. I had a bit of a slow week last week after Dubai, so I think the next few days are going to be important for me,” he said.
In other first-round women’s singles matches, British No. 1 Heather Watson, Mona Barthel and Irina Falconi emerged victorious.
Rising star Watson took on former top 15 player Julia Goerges of Germany in the first main-draw contest of the tournament.
Watson appeared to be headed for a straight-sets victory by compiling a 6-4, 5-3 lead, but Goerges rallied to win five games in a row to take the second set and go up a break at 1-0 in the third.
Still, Watson regrouped to beat Goerges 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
Wild-card Falconi of the US beat Croatia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 7-6 (8/6), 6-4.
The 24-year-old was one of seven Americans who took to the court on Wednesday.
Among the other matches, Germany’s Barthel outlasted Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; Vesnina beat qualifier Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine 6-3, 6-3; and qualifier Daria Gavrilova of Russia surprised Soler Espinosa 6-3, 6-4.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but