Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Rohan Bopanna of India rallied from a set down to advance to the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles at the Australian Open yesterday, but it was a day that saw Hsieh Su-wei crash out of both the women’s doubles and the mixed doubles at Melbourne Park.
Third seeds Chan and Bopanna had to fight back from a set down against Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic and Lucasz Kubot of Poland to complete a 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 victory in 70 minutes on Show Court 3.
The Taiwanese-Indian duo saved two of four break points and converted two of five, winning 65 of the 123 points contested to advance to a quarter-final against Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Treat Huey of the Philippines, who edged Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.
Photo: EPA
Next up for Taiwan’s Chan is a women’s doubles quarter-final with her younger sister, Chan Hao-ching, at 8am Taiwan time today.
The second-seeded sisters are due to take on seventh-seeded Czech pairing Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka on Show Court 3, which has become a home-away-from-home for Taiwanese players at Melbourne Park over the past few days.
It was not such a good day for Taiwan’s Hsieh, who crashed out of both the women’s doubles and the mixed doubles.
Hsieh and Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia crashed to a 6-2, 6-4 defeat to 15th-seeded Chinese duo Xu Yi-fan and Zheng Saisai in the third round of the women’s doubles at Hisense Arena yesterday morning.
Hsieh returned on Show Court 3 in the mixed doubles later yesterday alongside Alexander Peya, but she could not make up for her earlier disappointment as the Taiwanese-Austrian duo fell to a 6-2, 6-3 defeat to fifth seeds Elena Vesnina of Russia and Bruno Soares of Brazil in exactly an hour.
Two nights after his father-in-law was rushed to the hospital, four-time finalist Andy Murray put personal distractions aside long enough to beat Bernard Tomic and advance to the men’s singles quarter-finals.
An agitated Murray yelled and berated himself, and had trouble at times before winning 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) in a scrappy game against the last Australian in the draw.
Next for Murray is to be No. 8 David Ferrer, a two-time semi-finalist, who held off No. 10 John Isner 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.
Milos Raonic persevered with his serve-and-volley game plan and withstood a strong comeback from 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka, advancing to the quarter-finals 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-3. French Open champion Wawrinka was the only man to beat top-ranked Novak Djokovic in a Grand Slam match last year — the final at Roland Garros — and the last man to beat him at Melbourne Park after 2010.
Raonic lost to Djokovic in the Australian Open quarter-finals last year. This year, he is to face No. 23 Gael Monfils, who reached the last eight in Australia for the first time in 11 trips with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) win over Andrei Kuznetsov.
Before the quarter-finals, Murray said he would try to relax — which might be more difficult than usual considering his wife, Kim, is expecting their first child next month. The two-time major winner said he would be ready to leave the tournament at any moment if needed in Britain.
Kim’s father, Nigel Sears, was working in Australia as a coach for Ana Ivanovic when he fell ill and needed medical treatment in the stands at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night. He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and stayed overnight, but has been released.
Murray and Ivanovic, who lost to Madison Keys, were playing at the same time, Murray on nearby Margaret Court Arena.
Keys was eliminated yesterday, after Zhang Shuai of China defeated her 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Zhang is to play Johanna Konta, who had a 4-6, 6-4, 8-6 win over Ekaterina Makarova, who made it to the semi-finals last year, and became the first British woman since Jo Durie in 1983 to advance to the quarter-finals in Australia.
In earlier matches, two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Barbora Strycova 6-2, 6-4. A growing favorite for the title in a strong comeback from two injury-interrupted seasons, Azarenka next faces No. 7 Angelique Kerber, who beat fellow German Annika Beck 6-4, 6-0.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but