Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Chuang Chia-jung cruised into the second round of the mixed doubles at the French Open in Paris on Thursday.
Top seeds Chan and Jamie Murray eased past Australian duo Daria Gavrilova and John Peers 6-1, 6-2 on Court 15 at Roland Garros.
The Taiwanese-Scottish pairing saved one of the two break points they faced and converted five of eight, winning 52 of the 84 points contested to advance to a second-round clash against either Tatjana Maria of Germany and Nicolas Mahut of France or Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Rohan Bopanna of India.
Photo: Courtesy of Chan Hao-Ching’s Facebook page
On Court 8, Chuang and Henri Kontinen downed French duo Pauline Parmentier and Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-3.
The Taiwanese-Finnish pairing saved both break points they faced and converted all three they created, winning 60 of the 101 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with either eighth-seeded US duo Coco Vandeweghe and Bob Bryan or French pairing Virginie Razzano and Vincent Millot.
Chan Hao-ching’s elder sister, Chan Yung-jan, and Max Mirnyi of Belarus, the seventh seeds, were due to take on Romanian duo Simona Halep and Horia Tecau in the first round late yesterday.
In the singles yesterday, fourth-seeded Garbine Muguruza and sixth-seeded Simona Halep both reached the last 16, but in contrasting fashions.
With the early exits of Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber and the powerful Victoria Azarenka, the Spaniard and the Romanian are seen as the biggest threats to Serena Williams’ bid for a record-equaling 22nd Grand Slam title.
Williams is in the other half of the draw and has reached the third round without dropping a set.
The 22-year-old Venezuela-born Muguruza, who lost last year’s Wimbledon final to Williams, easily saw off the challenge of Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer 6-3, 6-0, winning nine games in a row from 3-3 in the first set.
“I did play very well. I wanted so much to win this match,” she said. “I am really motivated at Roland Garros and I hope I can continue like this.”
Halep, a losing finalist to Maria Sharapova in Paris two years ago, was stretched by 18-year-old US-based Japanese player Naomi Osaka before pulling through 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
“It was a very tough match. She played unbelievable and she is very young and talented,” Osaka said.
“I think it was a little bit of mental and a little bit of experience too. I did well in the end and I am happy I can play again the fourth round here,” she added.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
Top seeded Jessica Pegula on Friday once again fought back from a set down to reach the WTA Charleston Open semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against Russia’s Diana Shnaider. Defending champion Pegula has lost the first set in all three of her matches at the tournament so far, but again dug deep to maintain her hopes of retaining the title. The world No. 5 from the US took 2 hours, 10 minutes to defeat 19th-ranked Shnaider, relying on a formidable service game that included eight aces. Shnaider battled well in the first two sets and broke early for a 2-0 lead
RSS