Reigning champion Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the French Open on Monday.
Taiwan’s Hsieh and Flavia Pennetta of Italy defeated Janette Husarova of Slovakia and Paula Kania of Poland 6-3, 7-5 on Court Three at Roland Garros in the third round in Paris.
World No. 10 Hsieh, who won the French Open women’s doubles title last year with Peng Shuai of China, and world No. 12 Pennetta, who is also a Grand Slam champion, having won the Australian Open in 2011 with Gisela Dulko of Argentina, saved four of eight break-point chances and converted seven of 14 in the straight-sets victory.
The fourth seeds won 77 of the 140 points contested to set up a quarter-final against ninth-seeded Czech duo Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, who knocked out Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 on Sunday.
Should Hsieh and Pennetta advance to the semi-finals, they could find themselves up against their former partners, Sania Mirza of India and Martina Hingis of Switzerland, the top seeds at Roland Garros this year.
In the final match on Court Three on Monday, Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and John Peers of Australia were beaten in the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles 6-4, 6-4 by Zheng Jie of China and Henri Kontinen of Finland.
After facing her younger sister Hao-ching in the opening round of the mixed doubles, Chan Yung-jan was ousted by her women’s doubles partner Zheng in the quarter-finals, with the Chinese-Finnish duo saving two of three break-point chances and converting three of seven to advance to the semi-finals.
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
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Amanda Anisimova on Wednesday pulled off a stellar comeback to get the better of Iga Swiatek 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-2 and book her spot in the last four of the WTA Finals in Riyadh, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei won in the doubles at the women’s year-ending event. Making her tournament debut this week, the fourth-seeded Anisimova secured the runner-up spot in the Serena Williams Group behind Elena Rybakina. Rybakina completed round-robin play with a perfect 3-0 record, thanks to a 6-4, 6-4 success against Russian alternate Ekaterina Alexandrova earlier in the day. Anisimova improved her three-set record this season to an impressive