Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the quarter-finals of the singles at the Japan Open yesterday, while the Chan sisters booked a spot in the semi-finals of the doubles.
Hsieh defeated familiar foe Kurumi Nara 6-2, 6-4 in 1 hour 11 minutes at the Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo.
The Taiwanese world No. 113 now has a 5-1 career record against the Japanese world No. 78, her only loss their previous meeting in Rio de Janeiro last year.
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Hsieh saved three of four break points and converted four of seven, winning 65 of the 112 points contested to set up a quarter-final against world No. 84 Magda Linette of Poland, who upset second seed Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 6-2, 7-5 earlier on Center Court.
Linette’s victory left Madison Brengle of the US as the highest-ranked player at the tournament, although the world No. 42 faces a tricky test in the last eight today against Croatia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.
In other second-round singles results, Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko beat Australian Jarmila Gajdosova 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in a seesaw match, while there was joy for China too, with Zheng Saisai brushing aside Irina Falconi of the US 6-4, 6-2 in the late match.
In the doubles, top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan resumed their rain-delayed quarterfinal against Diyas and Nicole Melichar of the US leading 3-1 and spent just 40 minutes completing a 6-1, 6-3 victory.
The Taiwanese sisters saved all three break points they faced and converted four of eight, winning 55 of the 88 points contested to advance to a clash with Ukrainian duo Bondarenko and Olga Savchuk today after second seeds Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan and Liang Chen of China take on Japanese pairing Misaki Doi and Nara in the other semi-final.
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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
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