Two Taiwanese tennis stars faced each other at the WTA Connecticut Open yesterday, with Chuang Chia-jung defeating Hsieh Su-wei and gaining a measure of revenge for her untimely exit from the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
In their women’s doubles quarter-final at the Connecticut Tennis Center in New Haven, Chuang and Katerina Bondarenko of Ukraine defeated Hsieh and Andrea Petkovic of Germany 7-5, 1-6, 11-9.
Chuang and Bondarenko next face Hungary’s Timea Babos and Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova in the semi-finals.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
Taiwan’s media played up the match between Chuang and Hsieh, billing it as a game of “former friends turned adversaries,” after their relationship reportedly deteriorated following Hsieh’s decision to withdraw from the Rio Olympics.
Hsieh, who was Chuang’s doubles partner for the Games, announced her withdrawal from the Olympics following a row with officials from the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee on Aug. 4.
Hsieh’s unilateral decision meant Chuang was unable to compete. She too was forced to withdraw and sat on the sidelines of the competition.
The situation led to reports of Chuang’s resentment toward Hsieh, which was confirmed when they split up their doubles partnership.
At the time, Chuang told reporters that Hsieh could have informed her of the decision earlier so that she could have time to pair up with another player for the women’s Olympic doubles.
After the match in New Haven yesterday, Hsieh explained her decision to pull out of the Rio Olympics in a post on her Facebook page.
Hsieh later removed the post, and replaced it with a new post congratulating Chuang on her win.
In related news, Taiwan’s top male player, Lu Yen-hsun, ended his good run when he was beaten by Roberto Agut of Spain 3-6, 2-6 in the quarter-finals of the ATP Winston-Salem Open.
Lu had won three straight in earlier rounds, with a triumph over Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko 7-6, 6-3, a win over Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-2, 6-4, and knocking off Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-0.
It was the fourth consecutive year that Lu had advanced into the Winston-Salem quarter-finals.
The pressure was already on Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso before their 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League raised further questions about his future. Arsenal remain perfect in this season’s competition and three points clear at the top of the standings after a 3-0 win against Club Brugge, while defending champions Paris Saint-Germain were held 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao. The clash between Madrid and City was the standout game of the round amid reports this week that Alonso had lost control of the locker room. Speculation over his position is likely to intensify after the latest
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
‘HIGH STANDARD’: The Thunder are on track for a Finals-Cup double after they scored 22 three-pointers in equaling the best 25-game start to a season in NBA history The Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday bagged a 16th straight victory, thrashing the Phoenix Suns 138-89 to romp into an NBA Cup semi-final clash with the San Antonio Spurs, who stunned the Los Angeles Lakers 132-119. NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 28 points to lead the reigning NBA champions Thunder, who improved to 24-1 to equal the best 25-game start to a season in league history. They dominated from start to finish to book their place in the final four of the in-season tournament in Las Vegas, where they are tomorrow to take on the Spurs. The New York Knicks and
RSS