The Chan sisters survived another second-set wobble to advance to the semi-finals of the doubles at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo yesterday, while fellow Taiwanese Chuang Chia-jung avenged her doubles defeat to Japanese duo Misaki Doi and Nara Kurumi in the semi-finals of the Japan Open last week.
Second seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan saved one of two break points and converted three of four to claim the first set of their semi-final 6-1, but then conceded three breaks and converted just one of four as Olga Savchuk and Xu Yifan rallied to win the second set 6-2.
The Chan sisters then fought back to claim the super tiebreak 10-8 against their Ukrainian-Chinese opponents in 1 hour, 11 minutes, the second straight match in which they were taken to the brink after comprehensively winning the first set.
The second seeds won 53 of the 103 points contested on Court 1 at the Ariake Coliseum to set up a semi-final against Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato, who defeated fellow Japanese pairing Misa Eguchi and Junri Namigata in the first quarter-final played on Center Court.
Chuang and Kateryna Bondarenko completed a 6-3, 6-4 victory in 1 hour, 17 minutes in the final match on Center Court.
The Taiwanese-Ukrainian pairing saved four of five break points and converted three of five, winning 59 of the 103 points contested to set up a semi-final against third-seeded Spanish duo Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro, who advanced with a walkover.
In the singles, Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia reached the quarter-finals by beating sixth-seeded Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-4, 6-4.
Cibulkova improved her record to 3-0 against Suarez Navarro, who had not won a match in seven tournaments before beating Bondarenko in the first round.
The Slovakian faces second seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, who defeated Camila Giorgi of Italy 7-5, 6-2.
Seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska also reached the final eight by beating Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-4, 6-1 and will play Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who eliminated the last remaining Japanese player in the singles by defeating Nara 6-2, 6-4.
The 11th-ranked Pliskova served 10 aces and rallied from 4-1 down in the second set to clinch the match.
KOREA OPEN
American Sloane Stephens cruised past Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm to advance to the quarter-finals of the WTA Korea Open yesterday.
Third-seeded Stephens defeated 44-year-old Date-Krumm, champion in Seoul in 2009, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, ranked 136th in the world, earned a surprise win over Magdalena Rybarikova, currently ranked 73rd, defeating the Slovak 6-3, 6-3.
GUANGZHOU OPEN
Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic defeated top seed Simona Halep in straight sets in quarter-final play yesterday in the WTA Guangzhou International Women’s Open. Unseeded Allertova pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament so far, beating the Romanian 6-4, 6-3.
In another upset, unseeded Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium defeated Romania’s Monica Niculescu, the sixth seed, 6-2, 6-2.
Sara Errani overwhelmed eighth seed Zheng Saisai, China’s top player, 6-1, 6-0, leaving no more Chinese singles players in the event.
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