Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching advanced to the second round of the women’s doubles at Wimbledon on Wednesday as her elder sister, Chan Yung-jan, as well as Chuang Chia-jung and Chan Chin-wei all crashed out, while Hsieh Su-wei fell to the sixth seed in the second round of the women’s singles.
Chan Hao-ching and Alison van Uytvanck cruised past German duo Julia Goerges and Carina Witthoeft 6-2, 6-2 in 56 minutes on Court 4 at the All England Club in London.
The Taiwanese-Belgian pairing saved the only break point they faced and converted four of 11, winning 61 of the 98 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with Johanna Konta and Maria Sanchez yesterday after the British-American duo defeated lucky losers Misaki Doi of Japan and Stephanie Vogt of Liechtenstein 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in their first-round clash.
Photo: EPA
Australian duo Jarmila Gajdosova and Ajla Tomljanovic caused an upset on Court 9, when they came from a set down to defeat 13th seeds Chan Yung-jan and Zheng Jie 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
The cross-strait pairing, runners-up in the doubles at the Aegon International in Eastbourne on England’s south coast on Saturday last week, saved nine of 13 break points and converted three of four, but it was not enough as the Australians won 85 of the 160 points contested in 1 hour, 46 minutes.
The remaining Taiwanese will be hoping to avoid Court 5 for the rest of the tournament, as it did not prove to be a happy hunting ground on Wednesday, with Chuang and Chan Chin-wei crashing out in consecutive matches.
Chuang and Timea Bacsinszky were defeated 7-5, 6-3 by Mona Barthel of Germany and Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine in 1 hour, 14 minutes.
The Taiwanese-Swiss duo failed to save all three break points they faced and won only one of seven as their opponents won 68 of the 124 points contested.
Lucky losers Chan Chin-wei and Nicole Melichar, who replaced Dominika Cibulkova and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the draw, were beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Italian duo Karin Knapp and Roberta Vinci in 1 hour, 11 minutes.
The Taiwanese-American pairing saved nine of 13 break points and converted the only one they created, but they were overwhelmed by the Italians, who won 73 of the 123 points contested.
In the second round of the singles, Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic barely broke a sweat as she cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Hsieh in 1 hour, 5 minutes in the final match on Court 17.
Hsieh, ranked 125 places below the sixth seed, got off to an ominous start when she was broken in the opening game as Safarova raced to a 3-0 lead.
Another break of serve in the seventh game gave the Czech a 5-2 advantage, before she saw out the first set in comfortable fashion.
Safarova again opened the second set with a break as she swiftly established a 3-1 lead, before breaking again in the ninth game to seal her place in the third round.
Hsieh was due to return on Court 4 yesterday with partner Flavia Pennetta of Italy in the first round of the women’s doubles, when the seventh seeds were due to take on Romanian duo Elena Bogdan and Simona Halep.
In the first round of the men’s doubles, Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun and Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia were due to take on Matthew Ebden of Australia and James Ward of Britain on Court 7 yesterday.
Backup quarterback Luke Weaver on Wednesday night threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Nick Cenacle with 10 seconds left, as the University of Hawaii rallied for a 35-31 comeback victory over the University of California, Berkeley in a thrilling Hawaii Bowl. Weaver entered the game after Micah Alejado took a hard hit on the previous play. With the Rainbow Warriors (9-4) in range for a tying field goal, coach Timmy Chang took a shot at the end zone, and Cenacle got between two defensive backs and made the contested catch. “How amazing is that?” Chang said. “It’s a program that is built
Hosts Morocco on Friday were held to a 1-1 draw by Mali at the Africa Cup of Nations, ending their world record run of wins and leaving them still to make sure of progress to the next stage. Midfielder Brahim Diaz tucked away a penalty in stoppage-time at the end of the first half, but Mali equalized from the spot midway through the second half through Lassine Sinayoko. Both penalties were awarded after video reviews in a tempestuous clash at the end of a busy day of action at the tournament. Morocco were atop the Group A standings with four points, while Zambia,
STILL IN THE HUNT: Rasmus Hojlund took his goal tally for SSC Napoli to nine as the champions cruised to a win at US Cremonese and stayed two points behind the leaders Inter on Sunday stayed at the Serie A summit after beating Atalanta BC 1-0 to maintain their slender lead over local rivals AC Milan. Lautaro Martinez netted the only goal of the game in Bergamo for Inter, who lead Milan, 3-0 winners against Hellas Verona thanks to Christoper Nkunku’s first Serie A goals, by a single point at the top of the division. The Argentina striker has scored in four consecutive league matches to end what has been a tricky year in positive style. “I ended last season in a lot of pain... I kept going during the Club World Cup and international
An astounding 20 wickets fell on a frantic first day of the fourth Ashes Test yesterday, with Australia all out for 152 before storming back to dismiss England for 110 and leave the clash on a knife-edge. England skipper Ben Stokes won a key toss on a green track and his quicks feasted after sending in the hosts under overcast skies in front of 94,199 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was the biggest cricket crowd ever at the cavernous arena, exceeding the 93,013 who watched the 2015 World Cup final, and they witnessed the home side collapse with Josh Tongue
RSS