Taiwan’s Chan sisters survived a roller-coaster day at the WTA Tour’s Wuhan Open yesterday to advance to the semi-finals of the doubles, while Lu Yen-hsun failed with his comeback bid and exited the ATP Tour’s Chengdu Open in the second round.
Second seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan were a set down and facing a break point when their second-round match against Slovenian duo Andreja Klepac and Katarina Srebotnik was suspended due to rain on Wednesday, but they fought back yesterday to complete a 3-6, 7-5, 10-8 victory in 1 hour, 31 minutes.
The sisters saved five of 10 break points and converted four of six to set up a quarter-final against familiar adversaries Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears later in the day.
Photo: AFP
The second seeds carried on their good form to win the first set against the American duo, before it all fell apart as the sisters suffered muscle cramps and called the doctor, before losing the second to love.
However, the Chans rediscovered their touch in the super tiebreak to complete a 6-3, 0-6, 10-4 victory in 1 hour, 22 minutes and improve their career record against the Americans to 4-2.
The Taiwanese pairing saved two of six break points and converted two of nine, winning 53 of the 102 points contested to advance to today’s semi-finals.
“Dramatic day ... but very happy we made it,” Chan Yung-jan wrote on Facebook.
Fellow Taiwanese Chuang Chia-jung and Kateryna Bondarenko also won their rain-affected second-round clash, completing a 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 victory over seventh-seeded Czech duo Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradrecka in 1 hour, 36 minutes.
However, the pairing fell to a 6-4, 6-2 defeat to Christina McHale of the US and Peng Shuai of China in their quarter-final in just 67 minutes.
In the women’s singles, world No. 5 Simona Halep downed Madison Keys in the quarter-finals to book her place WTA Final for the third consecutive year.
Big serving Keys took an early lead in the first set, breaking the Romanian’s serve twice, but was unable to maintain the momentum as Halep equalled and then took the set 6-4.
Halep — who turned 25 this week — dropped just two games to take the second set and confirm her place in the eight-player season finale in Singapore.
Only world No. 1 Angelique Kerber and Serena Williams have so far qualified for the highly lucrative tournament, and the field remains wide open for the remaining five spots.
In Chengdu, Lu rallied from a set down to level his second-round singles match with fifth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas, but the Spaniard fought back to complete a 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-4 victory in 2 hours, 28 minutes.
Joining the fifth seed in the quarter-finals were South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, who ousted second seed Nick Kyrgios of Australia 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-2, and sixth-seeded Serbian Viktor Troicki, who outlasted Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two