The Chan sisters’ bid for back-to-back doubles titles in Tokyo remained on track yesterday as they battled into the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, in which they could face fellow Taiwanese Chuang Chia-jung.
Second seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan edged Japanese duo Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato 6-4, 7-5 in 1 hour, 31 minutes in their semi-final at the Ariake Coliseum in the Japanese capital.
The Taiwanese sisters saved nine of 12 break points and converted five of 12, winning 72 of the 133 points contested to make a second final in eight days following their victory in the Japan Open on Saturday last week.
Photo: Reuters
In the second semi-final, Chuang and Kateryna Bondarenko were leading third-seeded Spanish duo Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 3-3 as of press time last night.
In the singles, top-seed Caroline Wozniacki survived a nail-biting scare against Angelique Kerber of Germany, advancing to a semi-final showdown against Belinda Bencic.
The former world No. 1 clinched a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over Kerber, who has won six of their previous 10 encounters.
Wozniacki comfortably overpowered her fifth-seed rival in the first set, but the second set went to the German left-hander, who consistently delivered sharp shots deep into corners, forcing Wozniacki to run along the baseline.
Wozniacki remained calm and picked up the pace toward the end of the second set, before firing off blistering shots to win key games in the third set.
“I think we both played really well [in the third set]. It could have gone both ways, but I won the most important points. I am very happy about that,” Wozniacki said.
The victory set up a semi-final match against eighth-seeded Bencic, who beat Spain’s third-seeded Garbine Muguruza 7-6 (7/1), 6-1.
Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, the 2011 Pan Pacific winner, beat Czech fourth-seed Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-2 to set up a semi-final against Dominika Cibulkova, who ousted second seed Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.
Guangzhou
Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic came from three points down in the 11th game of the deciding set to break Yanina Wickmayer’s serve and advance to the Guangzhou International final with a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 win yesterday.
Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic continued her strong form with a 7-5, 6-2 win over No. 3 Sara Errani of Italy in the second semi-final.
WTA Korea Open
Unheralded Aliaksandra Sasnovich stunned US third seed Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-2 to reach the WTA Korea Open semi-finals yesterday.
Sasnovich, 21, faces Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the semi-finals after the Slovakian second seed beat Germany’s Mona Barthel 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
In the other half, Romanian top seed Irina Begu defeated Swedish veteran Johanna Larsson 6-4, 7-5.
Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck, seeded eighth, needed three sets to beat Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.
St Petersburg Open
Top seed Tomas Berdych crashed out of the St Petersburg Open in his first match on Thursday, losing 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to Simone Bolelli.
Bolelli’s faces Portuguese seventh seed Joao Sousa, who beat Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-3.
Canada’s Milos Raonic used his powerful serve to blast past Russian opponent Evgeny Donskoy 6-4, 6-4.
Raonic’s faces Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo, seeded fifth, who beat Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 7-6 (7/5), 6-1.
Fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain also reached the quarter-finals, beating Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.
Bautista Agut next plays Frenchman Lucas Pouille, who won against Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (7/1).
Open de Moselle
Top-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka labored to a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) win over Dustin Brown to reach the quarter-finals of the Open de Moselle on Thursday.
Gilles Simon, Martin Klizan, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Nicolas Mahut and Philipp Kohlschreiber, also advanced.
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