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.
Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) yesterday beat Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in their women’s singles semi-final match to advance to today’s final at the Thailand Open. The top-seeded Tai overcame a 10-21 first-game loss to seventh seed and former world champion Ratchanok to dominate the final two games 21-13, 21-19 in 58 minutes of play at the Impact Arena in Bangkok. World No. 2 Tai is today to face world No. 4 Chen Yufei of China. Chen yesterday bested Pusarla Venkata Sindhu 21-17, 21-16 to secure her spot in the final of the Super 500 tournament. On Friday, Tai overpowered China’s He Bingjiao 21-10,
Wimbledon, widely regarded as the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament, was on Friday stripped of ranking points by the sport’s main tours in a move that threatens to reduce the Grand Slam to the status of a high-profile exhibition event. The decision by the ATP and WTA was in response to Wimbledon banning Russian and Belarusian players following the invasion of Ukraine. “It is with great regret and reluctance that we see no option but to remove ATP Ranking points from Wimbledon for 2022,” an ATP statement said. “Our rules and agreements exist in order to protect the rights of players as a
Defending champions Taichung Blue Whale thrashed Taoyuan Mars 6-0 in Taiwanese women’s soccer over the weekend, while Hualien City rolled on with their fourth win to sit atop the league table. While Thai fullback Pitsamai Sornsai partnered with compatriot goalkeeper Nattaruja Muthtanawech on defense, Japanese midfielder Maho Tanaka opened the scoring for Blue Whale in Saturday’s match, kicking a screamer on a volley from outside the penalty box — her first goal of the season. The match remained 1-0 heading into the break, although Taoyuan Mars striker Ho Chia-huan, a student at Hsing Wu High School in New Taipei City, had good
Faced with a machete, a fighter leaps and locks his legs around another man’s neck, bringing him crashing down to a cacophony of cheers. This is vovinam, Vietnam’s acrobatic martial art with roots dating back to the country’s struggle for independence, and it is showing at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games for the first time since 2013. Proponents are trained to use not only their hands and legs to grapple a rival to the ground, but also fend off assailants armed with blades. Short for “Vo Viet Nam” (literally “Vietnamese martial arts”) it was inspired by nationalists who sought an end to the
RSS