Taiwan’s Chan sisters cruised into the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California, on Monday.
Top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan, the world No. 32 and No. 22 in doubles respectively, crushed Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm and Mandy Minella of Luxembourg 6-1, 6-3 at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium at Stanford University.
The Taiwanese sisters saved five of six break points and converted five of eight, winning 55 of the 90 points contested to wrap up the victory in just 53 minutes.
Photo: AFP
In the quarter-finals, the top seeds are to face Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine and Tatjana Maria of Germany, who ousted Eva Hrdinova of the Czech Republic and Petra Martic of Croatia 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 in their first-round match on Monday.
In the singles, sixth seed Andrea Petkovic got her body “realigned” and returned to form to beat fellow German Carina Witthoeft in their first-round match.
“I played really bad up to 1-5,” Petkovic said. “It felt like my upper body and lower body were swapped. After that I played fine.”
Photo: Screen grab from Facebook
World No. 17 Petkovic won 5-7, 6-1, 6-3.
“Stanford is special with the conditions. The ball really flies,” she said. “You have to feel the court.”
Seventh seed Madison Keys also advanced. The world No. 18 of the US needed just 52 minutes to take care of Aleksandra Krunic 6-3, 6-0.
“I think I played really well,” Keys said. “Once I got the lead, I tried to keep the pressure on her. My first serve was definitely working for me and that’s something I want to keep up.”
Teenager CiCi Bellis of the US lost her first-round match to Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi 6-3, 7-6 (7/3). Bellis was the youngest player in 15 years to win a match at the US Open last year.
“I thought I played pretty well and gave her a good fight,” said Bellis, who lives a few minutes from the campus. “It’s good for me to play against players ranked so high.”
Qualifier Nicole Gibbs, who won a pair of NCAA singles titles while at Stanford, beat France’s Caroline Garcia 6-4, 7-5 for her first WTA Tour victory since April.
“This was a big barrier for me to break through,” Gibbs said. “To do it in front of my home crowd was something special.”
Alison Riske of the US topped Maria 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 to earn a date with third-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro in the second round of the tournament that is a tune up for the US Open at the end of the month. Doi meets second seed Agnieszka Radwanska tomorrow.
Also on Monday, Mona Barthel beat wild card Carol Zhao 6-3, 6-0.
World No. 1 and defending champion Serena Williams withdrew last week due to injury.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS