Taiwanese No. 1 Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the second round of the singles at the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, while fellow countrywoman Chang Kai-chen triumphed in the first round of the doubles.
Seventh seed Hsieh defeated Jana Cepelova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-4 in 1 hour, 23 minutes at the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club.
The Taiwanese saved one of four break points and converted five of 10, winning 69 of the 129 points contested in the Malaysian capital to set up a second-round clash with another Slovakian, Kristina Kucova.
Kucova advanced by edging Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in 1 hour, 42 minutes.
Also advancing to the second round yesterday was German third seed Sabine Lisicki, who ousted Magda Linette of Poland 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in 1 hour, 40 minutes.
The German faces Barbora Krejcikova in the second round after the Czech qualifier defeated China’s Wang Yafan 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 in 1 hour, 52 minutes.
It was not a good day for fifth seed Nao Hibino of Japan as she fell to a shock 6-4, 6-2 loss to Duan Ying-ying of China in just 67 minutes.
Duan next faces fellow Chinese Wang Qiang, who cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Thai qualifier Luksika Kumkhum in just 64 minutes.
Kurumi Nara of Japan survived the longest of the opening day’s singles matches, defeating Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (12/10) in 3 hours, 19 minutes.
In the first round of the doubles, Chang and Oksana Kalashnikova defeated Valentyna Ivakhnenko of Russia and Lidziya Marozava of Belarus 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in 1 hour, 28 minutes.
The Taiwanese-Georgian duo saved eight of 14 break points and converted seven of 12, winning exactly half of the 146 points contested to advance to a quarter-final against either top-seeded Chinese duo Liang Chen and Wang Yafan or Linette and Zhang Kai-lin of China.
Also advancing yesterday were fourth-seeded Russian pairing Marina Melnikova and Alexandra Panova, who cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win over Peangtarn Plipuech of Thailand and Kotomi Takahata of Japan.
They next face Katarzyna Piter of Poland and Maryna Zanevska of Ukraine after they claimed a hard-fought 6-4, 6-7 (1/7), 11-9 win over Naomi Broady of Britain and Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey.
In related news, Taiwanese sisters Chan Yung-jan and Chan Hao-ching earned career-high doubles rankings of fifth and sixth in the world respectively yesterday following their victory at the Qatar Open on Saturday.
Chan Yung-jan (5,360 points) and Chan Hao-ching (5,335 points) both climbed four places in yesterday’s rankings and now have just Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza (12,925 points), Yaroslava Shvedova (5,595 points) and Casey Dellacqua (5,630 points) above them on the list.
In the singles rankings, Hsieh fell four places to 65th in the world, while Chang dropped two spots to No. 153.
STILL IN THE HUNT: Rasmus Hojlund took his goal tally for SSC Napoli to nine as the champions cruised to a win at US Cremonese and stayed two points behind the leaders Inter on Sunday stayed at the Serie A summit after beating Atalanta BC 1-0 to maintain their slender lead over local rivals AC Milan. Lautaro Martinez netted the only goal of the game in Bergamo for Inter, who lead Milan, 3-0 winners against Hellas Verona thanks to Christoper Nkunku’s first Serie A goals, by a single point at the top of the division. The Argentina striker has scored in four consecutive league matches to end what has been a tricky year in positive style. “I ended last season in a lot of pain... I kept going during the Club World Cup and international
Hosts Morocco on Friday were held to a 1-1 draw by Mali at the Africa Cup of Nations, ending their world record run of wins and leaving them still to make sure of progress to the next stage. Midfielder Brahim Diaz tucked away a penalty in stoppage-time at the end of the first half, but Mali equalized from the spot midway through the second half through Lassine Sinayoko. Both penalties were awarded after video reviews in a tempestuous clash at the end of a busy day of action at the tournament. Morocco were atop the Group A standings with four points, while Zambia,
An astounding 20 wickets fell on a frantic first day of the fourth Ashes Test yesterday, with Australia all out for 152 before storming back to dismiss England for 110 and leave the clash on a knife-edge. England skipper Ben Stokes won a key toss on a green track and his quicks feasted after sending in the hosts under overcast skies in front of 94,199 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was the biggest cricket crowd ever at the cavernous arena, exceeding the 93,013 who watched the 2015 World Cup final, and they witnessed the home side collapse with Josh Tongue
Algeria on Sunday became the third country after Egypt and Nigeria to qualify for the knockout stage of the Africa Cup of Nations by edging Burkina Faso 1-0 in Rabat through a Riyad Mahrez penalty. Defending champions Ivory Coast failed to join the trio after drawing 1-1 with Cameroon in a lively showdown in Marrakesh. Elsewhere, Mozambique ended a 39-match wait for a first victory by beating Gabon 3-2, while Sudan got back into contention for a last-16 slot by beating Equatorial Guinea 1-0 in Casablanca. Captain Mahrez converted from the penalty spot midway through the first half and Algeria then held on
RSS