Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei upset the eighth seed to advance to the second round of the singles at the Japan Open yesterday, while the Chan sisters and Chuang Chia-jung were also victorious in the doubles.
Hsieh got off to a flyer against Polona Hercog in Tokyo, converting three of six break points to claim the first set 6-1, but the Slovenian world No. 59 fought back to win a closely contested second.
However, the Taiwanese world No. 113 was not to be denied as she completed a 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 victory in 2 hours, 10 minutes.
Hsieh saved eight of 16 break points and converted 10 of 18, winning 115 of the 216 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with world No. 78 Kurumi Nara of Japan, who defeated Andreea Mitu of Romania 6-1, 6-4.
Also advancing in the singles were Kateryna Bondarenko, who ousted top seed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-4, 6-4, Jarmila Gajdosova, Johanna Larsson, Nao Hibino, Risa Ozaki, Irina Falconi, Zheng Saisai, Magda Linette and second seed Zarina Diyas.
In the doubles, top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan took just 56 minutes to dispatch Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan and Australia’s Gajdosova 6-3, 6-2.
The Taiwanese sisters saved two of four break points and converted five of six, winning 54 of the 93 points contested to set up a quarter-final against Diyas of Kazakhstan and Nicole Melichar of the US, who defeated Japanese wild-cards Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.
Second seeded Chuang and Liang Chen of China cruised past Christina McHale of the US and Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia 6-1, 6-2 in just 49 minutes.
The cross-strait duo saved one of three break points and converted six of nine, winning 51 of the 83 points contested to set up a quarter-final clash with Japanese pairing Shuko Aoyama and Makoto Ninomiya, who defeated Alexandra Panova of Russia and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-2.
Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei and Darija Jurak of Croatia were edged 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/3), 10-5 by third seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Alicja Rosolska in 1 hour, 51 minutes.
The Canadian-Polish duo saved six of nine break points and converted three of 11 to advance to a quarter-final clash with Ukrainian pairing Bondarenko and Olga Savchuk, who crushed Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands and Larsson of Sweden 6-1, 6-3.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was