Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei and Chan Yung-jan crashed out of the rain-hit doubles semi-finals at the Aegon Open in Nottingham, England, on Sunday, while top-seeded US duo Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears claimed the title.
After their doubles semi-final was delayed by a day due to rain, Chan Chin-wei and Xu Yi-fan of China finally took to the court on Sunday at the Nottingham Tennis Centre.
In a semi-final that was again blighted by the weather, the cross-strait duo were overpowered by the top seeds, falling to a 6-1, 6-3 defeat in just 48 minutes.
The US pairing converted five of the nine break-point chances they created, while Chan and Xu created and converted just one, as the top seeds set up a final against British pairing Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith, who outlasted second seeds Chan Yung-jan and Zheng Jie in the second semi-final.
The cross-strait duo fought back from a set down to force a super tiebreak, but eventually fell to a 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 defeat in 1 hour, 38 minutes.
In the final played later on Sunday, the top seeds rallied from 7-4 down in the super tiebreak to beat the British underdogs 3-6, 6-3, 11-9.
“It was tough conditions for everybody with the rain delays, but we wanted to go out there and have fun,” Spears told the WTA Web site. “Our goal is to enjoy our tennis and making good shots, and that is what we did.”
“We had a rough French Open,” Kops-Jones said. “To start off on the grass with a win like this is exciting. We played well all week and we’re just excited to keep going in the grass-court season.”
Following their defeat, Chan Yung-jan and Zheng made the short trip to Birmingham, England, where they are playing in the Aegon Classic this week.
The cross-strait duo have been handed the toughest of draws in England’s second city, a first-round clash with top seeds Casey Dellacqua of Australia and Sania Mirza of India, while Chan Yung-jan’s younger sister, Chan Hao-ching, fared little better. She and partner Andreja Klepac of Slovenia have been drawn against second seeds Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France.
In the delayed singles final in Nottingham yesterday, world No. 87 Ana Konjuh of Croatia rallied from a set down to complete a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over world No. 61 Monica Niculescu of Romania in 1 hour, 50 minutes to claim her first WTA Tour title.
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