Chan Yung-jan edged fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei to advance to the semi-finals of the mixed doubles at the US Open on Monday, where she faces a familiar foe in former world No. 1 Martina Hingis.
Second seeds Chan and Rohan Bopanna of India claimed a hard-fought 7-6 (9/7), 5-7, 13-11 victory over Hsieh and Henri Kontinen of Finland in their quarter-final on Court 17 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.
Chan and Bopanna served 18 aces, hit 50 winners and converted two of nine break points, winning 97 of the 178 points contested to wrap up the victory in 1 hour, 50 minutes as Hsieh’s US Open campaign ended at the start of the second week.
Photo: AFP
The Taiwanese-Indian duo face fourth seeds Hingis of Switzerland and Leander Paes of India in the semi-finals after they received a walkover when Simona Halep was forced to withdraw from their quarter-final.
“I cannot play anymore, so that’s why I’m pulling out. I’m tired and I have problems with my leg,” the Romanian told reporters following a grueling three-set win over Sabine Lisicki in the women’s singles.
Halep said that with a singles quarter-final with two-time US Open finalist Victoria Azarenka looming, a tough choice had to be made and that she had told partner and fellow Romanian Horia Tecau that she would not be able to continue in the mixed doubles.
Photo: AFP
“Horia understood. Not nice, but it’s never nice when you pull out,” Halep said.
Ahead of that semi-final showdown, Chan was due to come face to face with Hingis at the Louis Armstrong Stadium yesterday, when the Taiwanese was due to team up with younger sister Hao-ching to take on top seeds Hingis and Sania Mirza of India in the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles.
In the men’s singles, Andy Murray crashed out of the US Open in the fourth round, his earliest Grand Slam exit in five years, while 17-time major winner Roger Federer advanced to the quarter-finals.
South African 15th seed Kevin Anderson stunned British third seed Murray 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/0) to end his run of 18 consecutive major quarter-finals since the 2010 US Open.
“That’s something that is disappointing to lose because of that. That’s many years’ work that’s gone into building that sort of consistency. To lose that is tough,” Murray said. “Also to lose a match like that, that was over four hours, after a couple of tough matches earlier in the tournament as well, it’s a hard one to lose, for sure.”
Anderson reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final after seven prior fourth-round defeats.
“It was the match of my life,” Anderson said. “This is a great accomplishment for me.”
Anderson, who won his third career title two weeks ago at Winston-Salem, is the first South African in New York’s last-eight since Wayne Ferreira in 1992.
“I’m just so excited to be through,” Anderson said. “Beating a guy like Andy, I really feel like I’ve taken a step forward. It’s amazing. I feel like it’s a great accomplishment.”
Anderson, 1-5 in prior matches against Murray, fired 25 aces in ending an 0-15 career hoodoo against top-10 opponents to book a last-eight date with Swiss fifth seed Stan Wawrinka.
Reigning French Open champion Wawrinka defeated US left-hander Donald Young 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. The Swiss dropped his first set of the tournament, but reached an eighth quarter-final in his past nine Grand Slams, denying 68th-ranked Young his first Slam quarter-final.
Swiss second seed Federer, seeking his sixth US Open title, dispatched US 13th seed John Isner 7-6 (7/0), 7-6 (8/6), 7-5 to reach a quarter-final against French 12th seed Richard Gasquet, who ousted Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.
“Of course Roger will be the favorite of the match, but I will have nothing to lose,” said Gasquet, who is 2-14 lifetime against the Swiss star.
Federer, trying to become at 34 the oldest US Open champion since Ken Rosewall in 1970, stretched his US Open win streak over Americans to 12 since losing to Andre Agassi in 2001.
In women’s singles, second seed Halep and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova reached their first US Open quarter-finals on Monday, while old-hands Azarenka and Flavia Pennetta also went through.
Halep overcame injury and 30oC heat to set-up a last-eight clash against two-time runner-up Azarenka.
Halep needed 2 hours, 38 minutes, as well as a 10-minute heat break, to down German 24th seed Sabine Lisicki 6-7 (6/8), 7-5, 6-2.
Halep, 23, is the first Romanian in the last eight in New York since Irina Spirlea went to the 1997 semi-finals.
However, she did it the hard way, letting two set points slip away in the first set before requiring a medical timeout to have her left thigh tightly strapped.
There were 17 service breaks, nine of them in the second set, while both players committed a total of 105 unforced errors, 72 off the German’s racquet.
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