Fourth seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Flavia Pennetta cruised into the third round of the women’s doubles at the French Open on Saturday.
The Taiwanese-Italian duo, whose fledgling partnership has yet to produce any notable results, but who seem to be playing themselves into some form at the season’s second Grand Slam, defeated Madison Brengle of the US and Tatjana Maria of Germany 6-1, 6-3 on Court 17 at Roland Garros.
Hsieh and Pennetta saved one of the two break-point chances they faced and converted eight of 11, winning 62 of the 98 points contested to advance to a third-round clash with Janette Husarova of Slovakia and Paula Kania of Poland, who comfortably ousted Czech sisters Karolina and Kristyna Pliskova 6-2, 6-1.
In the second round of the mixed doubles, Chan Yung-jan and John Peers advanced to the quarter-finals with a comfortable 6-1, 6-4 victory over Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands.
The Taiwanese-Australian pairing saved one of three break-point opportunities and converted five of seven, winning 59 of the 97 points contested to set up a quarter-final against Zheng Jie of China and Henri Kontinen of Finland, who edged past Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Rajeev Ram of the US 6-3, 1-6, 11-9.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
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