The Chan sisters rallied from a set down to keep their bid for a fourth WTA Tour doubles title of the year on track at the China Open yesterday.
Sixth seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan, who claimed the titles in Pattaya, Cincinnati and Tokyo this year and are looking to qualify for the WTA Tour Finals in Singapore later this month, defeated second seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US and Elena Vesnina of Russia 4-6, 7-5, 10-7 in 1 hour, 34 minutes in the quarter-finals in Beijing.
The Taiwanese sisters saved three of eight break points and converted five of seven to set up a semi-final against third seeds Casey Dellacqua of Australia and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.
In the men’s draw, Novak Djokovic emphatically ended home hopes as he beat Zhang Ze to reach the quarter-finals with his 26th straight win at the tournament.
The world No. 1, unbeaten in five appearances in Beijing, had no room for sentiment as he won 6-2, 6-1 in just 55 minutes on a bright, chilly day.
Wildcard Zhang, China’s No. 1, but ranked 219th in the world, could not contend with the power and precision of Djokovic’s ground strokes as he was broken immediately and soon yielded the first set.
The result was never in doubt and Djokovic converted his first match point with a dismissive backhand volley as Zhang struggled at the back of the court.
With 26 wins and no defeats, Djokovic joins Jimmy Connors in second place on the list of unbeaten starts to a tournament, behind only Rafael Nadal’s 31 at the French Open.
The day’s most historic achievement came from Ivo Karlovic, who broke Goran Ivanisevic’s record for career aces as he went down to Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas.
The 2.11m Karlovic hammered 26 aces in his 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (9/7) defeat, reaching a career total of 10,247 and surpassing compatriot Ivanisevic’s 10,237 along the way.
The record was consolation for Karlovic after his loss to 37th-ranked Cuevas, who is enjoying a dream run in Beijing after he beat world No. 5 Tomas Berdych in the first round.
In the women’s draw, last month’s US Open finalists both suffered upsets with New York winner Flavia Pennetta, who is to retire at the end of the season, going out 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Pennetta’s defeat came after fellow Italian Roberta Vinci was beaten 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 by Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Additional reporting by staff writer
JAPAN OPEN
AFP, TOKYO
Marin Cilic produced a masterclass yesterday as he overpowered American Steve Johnson 6-3, 6-3 to set up a Japan Open quarter-final against defending champion Kei Nishikori.
Elsewhere, tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios brutalized Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, the muscular Australian taking less than an hour to complete a 6-4, 6-2 second-round victory in Tokyo with some equally strong-arm tactics.
Sixth seed Cilic beat the Japanese superstar in last year’s US Open final and the Croatian — who reached the semi-finals in New York last month — showed enough against Johnson to suggest Nishikori will face a severe test today.
Johnson had no answer to the power and guile of the street-wise Cilic, who clinched the first set with a cleverly disguised chip-and-charge that forced his tormented opponent into a panicked forehand he got horribly wrong.
An exquisite lob earned Cilic a break at the start of the second and such was Johnson’s frustration he slammed a ball out of the waterside arena to pick up a code violation.
His mood darkened as Cilic caught fire, ending with a flurry of passing shots, capped by a thunderous forehand on match point to wrap up victory in just 73 minutes.
“It will be very special to play Kei in Tokyo for the first time,” said Cilic, who is chasing a first title of the year and the 14th of his career. “We played a close match in Washington earlier this year and Kei won that one, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I just hope I can play as well as I did today.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
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