The Chan sisters cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open yesterday, while fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei bounced back from her defeat to Serena Williams in the singles on Wednesday.
Second seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan took just 45 minutes to complete a 6-1, 6-1 rout of Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands in front of a sizeable crowd of Taiwanese fans on Court 15 at Melbourne Park.
The Taiwanese duo served five aces and won six of 10 break points, winning 52 of the 75 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with Ukrainian pairing Kateryna Bondarenko and Olga Savchuk, who defeated Alize Cornet of France and Magda Linette of Poland 6-4, 6-0.
With EVA Airways one of the pairing’s main sponsors, elder sister Yung-jan dedicated the victory to Evergreen Group founder Chang Yung-fa, who passed away on Wednesday aged 88, as well as the sisters’ Taiwanese supporters.
“We’d like to thank our Taiwanese fans at the Australian Open, as well as back in Taiwan, for cheering us on. We have made a good start and we’ll continue to strive for good results,” Yung-jan wrote on Facebook.
Hsieh and Oksana Kalashnikova survived a second-set wobble to also advance on Court 20.
The Taiwanese-Georgian duo edged past dangerous Japanese pairing Misaki Doi and Nao Hibino 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5) in 1 hour, 41 minutes.
Hsieh and Kalashnikova saved two of five break points and converted three of six, winning 86 of the 167 points contested to set up a tough second-round clash today against fourth seeds Timea Babos of Hungary and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia, who ousted Vera Dushevina of Russia and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5.
It was not such a good day for Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei and Kurumi Nara of Japan as they fell at the first hurdle, succumbing to a 6-1, 6-4 defeat to Vania King of the US and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia.
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