Lu Yen-hsun and Raven Klaasen cruised into the semi-finals of the Geneva Open on Wednesday, defeating Frantisek Cermak of the Czech Republic and Jonathan Erlich of Israel 6-2, 6-1.
The Taiwanese-South African duo made short work of their quarter-final, saving all three break-point chances they faced and converting five of seven to complete the rout in just 48 minutes.
It was an impressive performance by Lu and Klaasen ahead of next week’s French Open, as Cermak and Erlich had stunned top seeds Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Jurgen Melzer of Austria 7-6 (7/2), 6-7 (4/7), 10-6 in the first round.
Lu and Klaasen were due to face fourth seeds Treat Huey of the Philippines and Scott Lipsky of the US in the semi-finals late yesterday.
In the singles on Wednesday, top seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland outlasted Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the second round.
Wawrinka needed a single break of service to win the opening and deciding sets, but faltered with his own first serves in losing the second set.
“I was a bit less intense during the second set, which makes a big difference against players like him, but overall it was a good match,” Wawrinka said.
The top seed was due to play world No. 74 Federico Delbonis in the quarter-finals yesterday, after the Argentine beat Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia 6-3, 6-4.
Third seed Pablo Andujar of Spain rallied from losing the first set to beat Adrian Mannarino of France 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2.
Fourth seed Benjamin Becker of Germany lost to Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6 (7/2), 6-2.
Sixth seed Joao Sousa of Portugal advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Melzer.
Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, a two-time champion at the Swiss Open in Gstaad, beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-4.
OPEN DE NICE
AP, NICE, France
Top seed Gilles Simon of France withdrew from the Open de Nice on Wednesday, casting doubts over whether he would play at next week’s French Open.
Simon, who retired from his second-round match in Rome this month, said the pain in his upper back was “too strong.”
World No. 13 Simon was set to face James Duckworth of Australia for a quarter-final spot and was replaced by French lucky loser Quentin Halys, who lost 7-6 (7/0), 7-6 (7/5).
Duckworth was due to face Borna Coric in the quarter-finals yesterday after the world No. 53 Croatian saved all three break points to beat qualifier Gianni Mina 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.
Fourth seed Leonardo Mayer advanced to the last eight with a 6-4, 6-0 win over French wild-card Lucas Pouille to set up a meeting with Juan Monaco.
Dominic Thiem also progressed when sixth seed Nick Kyrgios retired with an elbow injury while trailing 4-3 in the first set.
“I expected a very tough match and I’m really sorry for Nick, but I have to take it like this and of course I’m happy to be in the quarter-finals,” Thiem said.
Thiem was due to face defending champion Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, who won his second match of the year 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 over Alexandr Dolgopolov.
“There are still a lot of things that I need to work on,” Gulbis said. “My best memories of my game were from the beginning of last year until the end of Roland Garros. Since then, I didn’t have really good results and I didn’t really feel well on the court because of different reasons, because of shoulder problems, because of some other reasons. Slowly it’s going to change. I need to win these kinds of matches.”
Also advancing was Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic, who beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 and was due to face second seed John Isner.
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