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.
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time at the end of normal time as ugly scenes broke out in the stands. However, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved the weak attempted “Panenka” chip by the Real Madrid winger, who was clearly distracted by the long delay that followed the penalty award.
James Harden on Friday scored 31 points and came up big in overtime to help the Los Angeles Clippers erase a double-digit deficit on the way to a 121-117 NBA victory over the Toronto Raptors. Harden scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Clippers pushed their wining steak to five games despite the absence of star Kawhi Leonard with a sprained right ankle. The Clippers trailed by 11 entering the fourth quarter, but Harden drilled a pair of free-throws with 1:24 left in regulation to tie it and after misses from both teams, they went to
Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah on Saturday secured his sixth Dakar Rally car title in Saudi Arabia with Luciano Benavides scraping home by two seconds to claim the motorbike title. “We’ve worked very hard since last year. I might not be showing much emotion yet, but it’s there, deep down. We are so happy to win,” al-Attiyah said at the finish. Al-Attiyah, at the wheel of a Dacia, only had to avoid a final day slip-up to top the podium after bringing his career tally of stage wins to 50 on Friday. The 55-year-old, who took clay pigeon shooting bronze at the
Tobias Harris on Monday scored 25 points as the Detroit Pistons held off the Boston Celtics to score a 104-103 victory in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference showdown. Harris was one of four Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Jalen Duren adding 18 points and point guard Cade Cunningham scoring 16 points with 14 assists. The win sees Detroit extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to 31-10, 5.5 games ahead of second-placed Boston, who fell to 26-16 with the defeat. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics scoring with 32 points and almost snatched victory in the
RSS