Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan crashed out of the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Mutua Madrid Open yesterday, while world No. 1 Novak Djokovic eased into the third round of the men’s singles on Wednesday.
The fourth-seeded Chan sisters looked to be heading for a possible semi-final showdown with top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza after they claimed the first set 6-2, but Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva fought back in the second, then saved two match points in the super tiebreak before converting their first chance to clinch the match 2-6, 6-4, 11-9 on Pista 4 at the Caja Magica in the Spanish capital.
The American-Russia duo saved six of 10 break points and converted three of five, winning five fewer points than the Taiwanese pairing, but still prevailing in 1 hour, 26 minutes.
Photo: screen grab from Facebook
In the second round on Wednesday, the Chan sisters eased into the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Margarita Gasparyan of Russia and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in 64 minutes.
In the men’s singles on Wednesday, Djokovic advanced by beating Borna Coric 6-2, 6-4.
Djokovic, who had not played in Madrid since 2013, served four double faults, but relied on his return to overpower Coric.
“I thought I was serving quite well in the practice sessions, but then the first set went well, the second not so much,” said Djokovic, who claimed his only Madrid Open title in 2011 when he beat Rafael Nadal in the final. “The first-serve percentage could have been higher and should be higher for the upcoming matches, but I’m satisfied with my game.”
Coric’s style has been compared to that of “a young Djokovic,” and the Serb said his opponent had a “nice balance between confident approach and self-belief on the court, and is not really intimidated by anyone’s presence.”
Djokovic said he could “identify myself with him because we have very similar backgrounds, coming from Croatia and Serbia. We have the same mentality, speak the same language and more or the less [the] same trajectory or path to professional tennis.”
Tennis fans are bound to see more of Coric, Djokovic said.
Djokovic’s next opponent is 15th seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who defeated fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.
Also on Wednesday, Nick Kyrgios of Australia put in a hard-hitting performance to beat fourth seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Swizterland 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/2), while sixth seed Kei Nishikori advanced by beating Fabio Fognini 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
Sam Querrey of the US defeated Lucas Pouille of France 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4 and eighth seed Tomas Berdych beat Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-3.
Also advancing were Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, Czech eighth seed Tomas Berdych, Spanish ninth seed David Ferrer, French 16th seed Gilles Simon, Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, Jack Sock of the US and Joao Sousa of Portugal.
In the women’s singles, Victoria Azarenka pulled out because of a lower-back injury.
The fourth seed said that she “tweaked” her back during her match against Laura Robson and that the pain persisted during her second-round win over Alize Cornet.
Azarenka had been scheduled to play Louisa Chirico of the US, but she withdrew during the warm-up.
Azarenka said she would undergo medical tests before making a decision about playing in Rome next week.
The women’s singles also lost its fifth seed when 22-year-old Daria Gavrilova of Australia defeated Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4.
Also advancing to the quarter-finals were Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia and Samantha Stosur of the US, along with sixth seed Simona Halep and fellow Romanians Sorana Cirstea, Irina-Camelia Begu and Patricia Maria Tig.
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