Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen failed to follow up her shock victory over top seed Roberta Vinci as she crashed out of the second round at the Malaysian Open yesterday.
World No. 153 Chang fell to a 7-5, 6-3 loss to Cagla Buyukakcay in 1 hour, 35 minutes on Court 2 at the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club.
The Turkish world No. 128 saved six of eight break points and converted five of nine, winning 76 of the 142 points contested to advance to a quarter-final against sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard of Canada.
It was Buyukakcay’s first victory over the Taiwanese at her third attempt following defeats in Taipei in 2011 and in qualifying in Pattaya, Thailand, in 2012.
Also making the quarter-finals yesterday was Naomi Broady, who defeated Chinese qualifier Yang Zhaoxuan 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour, 26 minutes in the opening match on Center Court.
The British world No. 96 saved three of five break points and converted four of six, sending down nine aces and winning 69 of the 122 points contested to advance to a quarter-final against third seed Sabine Lisicki.
Today’s quarter-final will be the German world No. 31’s first meeting with the rising British star, who defeated former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic on her way to reaching the quarter-finals in Auckland in January and who has a 15-4 win-loss record this year.
It was a better day for another Chinese qualifier as Lin Zhu beat world No. 95 Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 7-5, 6-2 in 72 minutes.
World No. 190 Zhu saved one of three break points and converted five of seven to advance to a quarter-final against fellow countrywoman Wang Qiang.
Second seed Elina Svitolina beat Japanese qualifier Risa Ozaki 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 in 1 hour, 57 minutes.
The Ukrainian world No. 19 saved seven of 10 break points and converted seven of 18 to advance to a quarter-final against Kristina Kucova of Slovakia.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
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