The Chan sisters managed to evade the showers at a rainy Aegon Classic in Birmingham, England, on Wednesday to advance to the quarter-finals of the doubles, while in the singles, former Wimbledon finalist and top seed Agnieszka Radwanska lost her first match of the year on grass.
Top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan took advantage of the only dry spell of the day at the Edgbaston Priory Club to down Ukrainian duo Kateryna Bondarenko and Olga Savchuk 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in 1 hour, 36 minutes in the first round of the doubles.
The Taiwanese duo saved three of six break points and converted four of seven, winning 71 of the 138 points contested to improve their career record against the Ukrainians to 3-0 after victories at the French Open last month and the Tokyo International last year.
Photo: Reuters
Next up for the top seeds are either fellow Taiwanese Chuang Chia-jung and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia or Japanese pairing Misaki Doi and Kurumi Nara, who were due to play their rain-delayed first-round match later yesterday.
In the only other doubles match played on Wednesday, Darija Jurak of Croatia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia upset third-seeded Czech duo Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Safarova 6-3, 1-6, 10-6.
In the singles, Radwanska fell to 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 defeat to world No. 32 Coco Vandeweghe of the US.
It was a setback which was particularly hard to take for a player who has reached the semi-finals or better in nine of her past 13 tournaments. More incongruous still, Vandeweghe had lost all four of their previous encounters, winning a mere 18 games in the process.
However, the powerfully built American’s timing and confidence were in good order after winning the Ricoh Open title on grass in the Netherlands last week, while the Pole’s practice on the surface had been restricted by repeated rainstorms.
Vandeweghe’s career-best win was achieved with a determination to swing hard whenever she could and a belief that she could overpower her opponent even if she sometimes missed.
The policy was particularly effective against Radwanska’s moderately paced second serve, a delivery which was heavily punished in the seventh and ninth games of the final set, just when many thought the favorite was turning things around.
“I got into trouble [in the second set], but I managed to get through it,” Vandeweghe said. “Last week helped me escape from a tricky situation because I had done it before.”
The match had a tricky feeling throughout after it was stopped at 4-4 the previous night and was halted again for nearly an hour early in the second set.
“The rain delays didn’t help because you have to keep your mind on the match, which isn’t always easy,” Vandeweghe said. “I tried to keep myself quiet and I thought if I could stick with my game plan I could do it.”
Radwanska was philosophical with Wimbledon less than two weeks away.
“I don’t think I played so bad today — she was just really good,” the Pole said.
Belinda Bencic, the youngest player in the top 10, suffered another injury less than two weeks after returning from more than two months away with a bad back.
The 19-year-old Swiss quit while trailing 6-4, 4-3 in her first-round match against Irina-Camelia Begu, the Romanian world No. 26.
Bencic hurt her right thigh in a fall on the slick grass in the first game and by the fifth game had called the trainer, but she continued, often with her movement looking limited, and rarely looked capable of winning the match.
“I played more than I should have,” Bencic said.
MALLORCA OPEN
AP, MALLORCA, Spain
Second-seeded Jelena Jankovic overcame a first-set humiliation to advance to the quarter-finals of the Mallorca Open on Wednesday.
The 25th-ranked Serb rallied to beat Belgian qualifier Elise Mertens 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 in their second-round match.
Eighth-seeded Eugenie Bouchard of Canada defeated Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-3, 6-3, while qualifier Sorana Cirstea of Romania ousted Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-4.
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