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.
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