Taiwan’s Chan sisters advanced to the semi-finals at the Apia International in Sydney yesterday, cruising to a 6-2, 6-2 quarter-final victory in just 65 minutes.
Second seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan, the world No. 12 and No. 7 respectively, saved three of five break points and converted six of eight, winning 56 of the 87 points contested against Klaudia Jans-Ignacik of Poland and Laura Siegemund of Germany to get their season up and running at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre.
“Getting into the rhythm,” elder sister Chan Yung-jan said on Facebook as the Taiwanese duo advanced to a semi-final today against third-seeded French pairing Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic, who defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia and Roberta Vinca of Italy 6-4, 6-2 in 62 minutes in their quarter-final yesterday.
Photo: EPA
Awaiting in the other side of the draw are either the Chan sisters’ archrivals top seeds Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Sania Mirza of India, the world No. 2 and No. 1 respectively, or Raluca Olaru of Romania and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, who stunned fourth seeds Timea Babos of Hungary and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 6-3, 6-2.
In the men’s singles, Grigor Dimitrov reached his second consecutive quarter-final of the new season with a straight-sets win over Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas.
The Bulgarian world No. 28, looking for more matches under new coach Franco Davin, ousted Cuevas 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 and is to next play Ukraine’s Aleksandr Dolgopolov in the quarters.
Photo: Screen grab from Facebook
Dimitrov took the opening set in 51 minutes after a one-sided tiebreak and then opened the second set with his only break of the match.
That was all he needed as he worked his way to victory in 1 hour, 37 minutes.
Dolgopolov knocked out American qualifier Alexander Sarkissian 7-6 (8/6), 6-2.
Australia’s top seed Bernard Tomic claimed a quarter-final spot in the tournament for a fourth straight year with a 6-2, 6-2 romp over compatriot Jordan Thompson in just 48 minutes in the evening match.
The 2013 champion is to face Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili in the quarters. Gabashvili won 6-3, 6-3 against Argentina’s Federico Delbonis.
Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller was leading second seed Dominic Thiem 7-6 (7/2), 2-2 when the young Austrian retired with blisters on his right foot.
Muller is to face Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the quarters.
Sixth seed Chardy ousted Australian James Duckworth 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, while French qualifier Nicolas Mahut downed fifth-seeded Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
Serbian third seed Viktor Troicki beat Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-1, 6-4.
In the women’s singles, Simona Halep beat big-serving Czech Karolina Pliskova to reach the semis.
The world No. 2 had early breaks in both sets only to be pulled back, before the tournament top seed closed out for a 6-4, 7-5 win over the Czech fifth seed in 1 hour, 38 minutes.
Halep is to face former world No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the last four after the Russian fought back from 1-5 down in the opening set to knock out Italian Sara Errani 7-6 (7/1), 6-0.
Puerto Rican qualifier Monica Puig ended Australia’s Samantha Stosur’s run, 6-4, 6-4 and is to face eighth seed Belinda Bencic in the semis after the Swiss beat Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-0, 2-6, 6-4 in an evening match.
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In second-round matches, Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia defeated Kimberly Birrell of Australia 6-1, 6-0, while Mona Barthel of Germany beat Naomi Osaka of Japan 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 and Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands won 6-3, 6-1 against Annika Beck of Germany.
As of press time last night, Monica Niculescu of Romania and Britain’s Heather Watson had won one set each, with Watson 3-1 up in the third before play was interrupted.
In the doubles, Bertens and Johanna Larsson of Sweden defeated Japan’s Misaki Doi and Nao Hibino 7-5, 6-2 in their quarter-final.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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