Taiwan’s Lee Ya-hsuan and Chan Chin-wei were both ousted in the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Taiwan Open yesterday, while Elina Svitolina, one of the few surviving seeds, progressed to the quarter-finals of the singles in straight sets at the Taipei Arena.
Lee and Peangtarn Plipuech fell to a 2-6, 6-2, 10-7 comeback victory by Nao Hibino and Zhang Kailin in 69 minutes.
“It was disappointing for me. I had miscues and unforced errors several times, and lost the points and should have made some shots, but did not do it. For these mistakes, I want to apologize to my doubles partner,” Lee said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
“It was not a good performance from me today, it was worse than my opening match ... I missed some block shots up front. When going to the net, I can get nervous and it showed,” Lee said. “In the second set, our opponents slowed the tempo and changed the pace of the game, and we were slow to make the adjustment.”
Hibino and Zhang face Czech duo Lucie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova in the semi-finals after the second seeds defeated Chan and Nicole Melichar of the US 7-5, 6-4 in 1 hour, 20 minutes.
The Czech pairing saved 10 of 11 break points and converted three of 11, winning 71 of the 126 points contested.
“In the first set, we were leading, but our opponents broke my serve and then they opened the second set by breaking my serve. I also had good chance to break her service, but I did not seize it,” Chan said. “I have never played these two players before, but I knew it would be a difficult game. After starting well we had the opportunity to win, but still lost in the end, so it was disappointing.”
Earlier in the second round of the singles, top seed Svitolina booked her spot in the quarter-finals with a straight-sets victory over Hradecka.
The Ukrainian world No. 13 took 1 hour, 44 minutes to complete a 6-4, 7-5 victory over the 170th-ranked Czech qualifier.
Svitolina saved 11 of 12 break points and converted three of 10, winning 86 of the 161 points contested to advance to a quarter-final against another qualifier, Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur.
“For this match, I got my serves in really well,” Svitolina said. “I tried not to look too far ahead, but took each point one at a time and waited for good chance to attack at the net.”
Asked whether her form was good enough to get to Sunday’s final, the top seed said: “Yes, I am pleased with the win, but I don’t think about the final right now. I just want to win the next match, to play and stay in this tournament longer.”
In the first singles match of the day Siniakova became the latest seed to fall at the WTA tournament as China’s Peng Shuai completed a comprehensive 6-1, 6-3 victory in just 63 minutes.
World No. 71 Peng, who climbed to 14th in the rankings in 2011, mixed four aces with four double faults and converted six of 11 break points to oust the world No. 40 and avenge a defeat last month in Shenzhen.
The 31-year-old faces second seed Samantha Stosur in the quarter-finals after the Australian battled back from a set down to complete a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over qualifier Dalila Jakupovic in 2 hours, 13 minutes.
The world No. 23 saved eight of 14 break points and converted seven of 12, winning 104 of the 201 points contested to overcome the Slovenian 25-year-old.
China’s Zhu Lin also advanced to the quarter-finals after rallying from a set down to oust Kurumi Nara of Japan 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in 1 hour, 47 minutes and she next faces Mandy Minella of Luxembourg.
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