Taiwan’s Lee Ya-hsuan won a topsy-turvy first-round doubles clash at the Jiangxi Women’s Tennis Open in Nanchang, China, yesterday to advance to the quarter-finals.
Lee and Alison Bai of Australia survived a second-set fightback to stun fourth seeds Liang Chen of China and Zhang Lin of Hong Kong 6-2, 2-6, 14-12 in a thriller at the WTA 125K tournament.
Bai and Lee, who celebrated her 20th birthday on Monday last week, saved three of seven break points and converted four of six.
In yesterday’s other doubles matches, Chinese pairing Gao Xinyu and You Xiaodi cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Thai duo Kamonwan Buayam and Luksika Kumkhum in just 58 minutes, while South Korean duo Han Na-lae and Jang Su-jeong thrashed Ekaterina Bychkova of Russia and Ankita Raina of India 6-1, 6-2 in 54 minutes.
In the first round of the singles, top seed and former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia cruised into the second round after 68-minute 6-2, 6-1 thrashing of Riko Sawayanagi of Japan.
Jankovic saved the only break point she faced and converted five of nine.
In the second round, eighth seed Liu Fangzhou of China cruised past Kato 6-0, 6-2 in just 63 minutes, Han Na-lae defeated Zhang Yuxuan of China 6-4, 6-3, Lu Jia-jing of China edged Namigata 6-2, 6-7 (10/12), 7-6 (7/1) and Han Xinyun stunned fellow Chinese third seed Wang Qiang 7-6 (7/0), 6-3.
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