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.
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
With a hat-trick on Wednesday, Victor Osimhen moved atop the UEFA Champions League scoring table, with the Nigeria striker netting all three goals in Galatasaray’s 3-0 victory over Ajax in Amsterdam. Osimhen moved to six goals this season in Europe’s elite club competition, one more than Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland. The Istanbul club signed Osimhen to a permanent deal from SSC Napoli in the summer for a record transfer fee in the Turkish League reportedly worth US$86 million. The 26-year-old striker needed less than 20 minutes to complete his first hat-trick in the competition. He headed in the opener in the
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