The Chan sisters rallied from a set down to oust fellow Taiwanese Chuang Chia-jung and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, England, on Friday.
Top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan battled to a 3-6, 6-4, 10-6 victory in 1 hour, 26 minutes on the grass courts at the Edgbaston Priory Club.
The Taiwanese sisters saved two of six break points and converted four of seven, winning 62 of the 122 points contested to advance to a semi-final against Vania King of the US and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia, who stunned fourth-seeded Slovenian duo Andreja Klepac and Katarina Srebotnik 6-3, 6-3.
Photo: Courtesy of Chan Yung-jan’s Facebook page
Yesterday’s other doubles semi-final was to be between Czech duo Karolina Pliskova and Barbora Strycova, who crushed Darija Jurak of Croatia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia 6-2, 6-1, and British wild cards Naomi Broady and Heather Watson, who ousted fellow Briton Johanna Konta and Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-2, 7-6 (7/5).
In the singles, Angelique Kerber became another in a sequence of leading players to have their Wimbledon preparations cut short when she lost her title in a dramatic quarter-final defeat.
The second-seeded German was beaten 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 by Carla Suarez Navarro, the world No. 16 from Spain, despite a fine fightback in which Kerber appeared to have regained the momentum during a final set in which she was three times within two points of victory.
However, Navarro appeared to last a physically very tough match the better after a schedule in which both players had to complete second-round matches earlier in the day.
“I had to fight and play my best to beat the best player,’’ Navarro said, even though Kerber has often found it hard to rediscover her best after her sensational Grand Slam triumph in Australia at the start of the year.
“I didn’t defend my title, but I have played well,” Kerber said, although she looked very disappointed by her loss.
“She [Navarro] started very good, but I came back well and it will give me confidence going into Wimbledon.”
That might not be the case for Agnieszka Radwanska, the top-seeded Pole, or Petra Kvitova, the two times Wimbledon champion, or Belinda Bencic, the 19-year-old who is the youngest in the world’s top 10, who were among six seeds who failed to reach the quarter-finals amidst continuously disruptive rainstorms.
Later today Navarro plays the only remaining seed, Madison Keys, the top 20 American who recovered from a wayward start to overcome Jelena Ostapenko, Kvitova’s conqueror, by 6-7(1-7), 6-4, 6-2.
The other semi-final will be between CoCo Vandeweghe, the American who ousted Radwanska in the first round, and Barbora Strycova, the Czech who is a former Aegon Classic finalist.
Mallorca Open
AP, MALLORCA, Spain
Sixth-seeded Caroline Garcia of France advanced to the semi-finals of the Mallorca Open by beating former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (9), 5-7, 6-3 on Friday.
Garcia next faces Kirsten Flipkens. The Belgian beat qualifier Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay 7-5, 6-3.
By the time Cameron Menzies finally left the arena on Monday, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand had trickled down his wrist, part of his forearm and — somehow — up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappeared down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of Professional Darts Corp (PDC). The physical scars from Menzies’ encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby at the Darts World Championship would be gone within a few weeks.
Manchester United on Monday blew the lead three times to miss out on moving up to fifth in the Premier League as AFC Bournemouth would not be beaten in a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. United have lost just once in their past 10 games, but Ruben Amorim would be frustrated as more points at home were frittered away despite arguably the best attacking display of his reign in charge. Amad Diallo and Casemiro gave the hosts a halftime lead either side of Antoine Semenyo’s equalizer. Two Bournemouth goals from Evanilson and Marcus Tavernier in seven minutes at the start of the
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LACKLUSTER FIGHT: At one stage, the referee lost patience with the two fighters, warning them in the fourth round that ‘the fans did not pay to see this crap’ Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Friday knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in their controversial Netflix-backed bout in Miami. The fight at the Kaseya Center, which saw both men reportedly splitting a mammoth purse of US$184 million, had triggered alarm across boxing due to the gulf in physical size and class between Britain’s two-time former world champion Joshua and Paul, an Internet personality who has forged a lucrative career through a handful of novelty boxing contests. However, in the event, Joshua made hard work of defeating his vastly less accomplished opponent, before his superior size and power eventually told
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