The Chan sisters cruised into the doubles final at the Japan Open yesterday, but it was not such good news for fellow Taiwanese Chuang Chia-jung and Hsieh Su-wei.
Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan swept into today’s doubles final in just 52 minutes at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, dispatching Ukrainian duo Kateryna Bondarenko and Olga Savchuk 6-3, 6-2.
The Taiwanese top seeds did not face a single break point and converted three of four, winning 53 of the 83 points contested to set up a final against Japanese wild-cards Misaki Doi and Kurumi Nara, who stunned second seeds Chuang and Liang Chen of China 6-3, 6-3 in the earlier semi-final.
Photo: screen grab from Facebook
Doi and Nara saved both break points they faced and converted three of 15, winning 63 of the 108 points contested to complete the hard-fought victory in 1 hour, 27 minutes.
In the singles, world No. 113 Hsieh was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by Polish world No. 84 Magda Linette in 1 hour, 35 minutes.
Linette saved four of five break points and converted four of 13, winning 73 of the 130 points contested to oust the Taiwanese and advance to a semi-final against sixth seed Christina McHale of the US, who beat Zheng Saisai of China 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia rallied to beat Madison Brengle of the US 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Seventh seed Tomljanovic got off to a sluggish start, but won the first three games of the second set and first two of the third en route to ousting third seed Brengle.
Tomljanovic faces Yanina Wickmayer in today’s semi-finals after the Belgian also came back from a set down to defeat Bondarenko 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
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HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite