Top seeds the Chan sisters began their Taiwan Open doubles campaign with a victory on Center Court at the Yang-Ming Tennis Center in Kaohsiung yesterday, while fellow Taiwanese Hsu Ching-wen and Lee Ya-hsuan advanced to the semi-finals.
Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan looked to be cruising into the quarter-finals when they wrapped up the first set against Zarina Diyas and Xu Yi-fan 6-1 without facing a single break point, but their Kazakh-Chinese opponents fought back to force a tiebreaker in the second, which the Taiwanese sisters won 7-5.
Overall the sisters saved and converted four of six break points, winning 69 of the 119 points contested to wrap up the victory in 74 minutes and set up a quarter-final against Marina Melnikova of Russia and Mandy Minella of Luxembourg.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
Younger sister Hao-ching thanked the Center Court crowd for their support.
“Thank you for your passion and making us feel at home,” Hao-ching wrote on Facebook.
The Chan sisters were followed on Center Court by Taiwanese duo Chang Kai-chen and Chuang Chia-jung, who lost a cross-strait thriller against second seeds Liang Chen and Wang Yafan 7-6 (9/7), 7-5 in 1 hour, 45 minutes.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
Earlier on Court 7, Hsu and Lee cruised into the semi-finals after a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic and Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland.
The Taiwanese duo saved both break points they faced and converted four of nine, winning 55 of the 93 points contested to wrap up the victory in just 53 minutes.
In the singles, top seed Venus Williams of the US took just 57 minutes to win her first-round match against Taiwanese wild-card Lee Pei-chi 6-3, 6-2.
Williams saved both break points she faced and converted three of six, winning 66 of the 107 points contested to advance to a second-round clash today against Urszula Radwanska of Poland.
Asked about her first impressions of Taiwan ahead of her opener, Williams told the WTA Web site: “I’ve already hit for a couple of hours on the court, so I haven’t had the chance to see a lot. I’d love to see the mountains and the city, but from the plane it looked amazing.”
She also thanked the Chan sisters for their warm welcome.
“First of all they’re [the Chan sisters] really wonderful people. They welcomed me here and told me if I needed anything to let them know — so I think I’ll take them up on that. This year or last year I was watching them at the WTA Finals and it was unbelievable doubles — so exciting to watch it. Never played against them at the same time — I’ve played against them when they weren’t playing together and that was never easy. I guess now they’re going to be representing the country in the Olympics, and that’s so awesome for tennis and so exciting for Taiwan,” Williams said.
In the only other remaining first-round match yesterday, Poland’s Magda Linette beat Wang 7-5, 7-5.
In the second round, Russia’s Elizaveta Kulichkova pulled off the biggest shock of the tournament so far by ousting fourth seed Diyas 7-5, 0-6, 6-4; third seed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan survived a second-set wobble to beat Japanese qualifier Miyu Kato 6-4, 5-7, 6-0; seventh seed Kurumi Nara of Japan downed Chinese qualifier Zhang Yuxuan 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; and unseeded Latvian Anastasija Sevastova edged past Donna Vekic of Croatia 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS