The Chan sisters successfully negotiated the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Hong Kong Open yesterday, but it was not as good a day for fellow Taiwanese Chang Kai-shen, who was ousted in the second round of the singles at the Tianjin Open.
Top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan took 1 hour, 17 minutes to see off Marina Erakovic of New Zealand and Zhang Ling of Hong Kong 6-4, 6-3.
The Taiwanese sisters saved 10 of 13 break points and converted five of 15, winning 63 of the 118 points contested to advance to the semi-finals.
In the remaining rain-delayed first-round doubles match, Taiwan’s Lee Ya-hsuan and Kotomi Takahata of Japan fell to a 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 defeat to British duo Naomi Broady and Heather Watson.
In the singles, there were wins for German top seed Angelique Kerber, Danish fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki, Australian eighth seed Daria Gavrilova and Kristina Mladenovic of France.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US ousted French sixth seed Caroline Garcia 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, while China’s Wang Qiang advanced with a walkover when British third seed Johanna Konta withdrew with an abdominal strain.
In Tianjin, Chang fell to a 6-3, 6-3 defeat to Peng Shuai in 1 hour, 18 minutes.
The Chinese world No. 182 saved two of five break points and converted seven of 18, winning 68 of the 121 points contested to improve her career record over the Taiwanese world No. 220 to 2-0 following her previous victory in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, six years ago.
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
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
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
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later