The Chan sisters yesterday rallied from a set down to keep their bid to retain the Taiwan Open doubles title on track, while today’s singles final at the Taipei Arena is to be contested by Peng Shuai and Elina Svitolina.
Top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan had to fight back from a set down against Chinese duo Liu Chang and Zheng Saisai in their semi-final before securing a 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 10-5 victory in 1 hour, 48 minutes.
The Taiwanese sisters saved 11 of 14 break points and converted five of 12 as they advanced to their second consecutive Taiwan Open doubles final after claiming the trophy in Kaohsiung last year.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“We got behind in the first set, they played more aggressive and made good shots against us,” Chan Hao-ching said. “In the second set we did not slack off, but kept our concentration and picked up the tempo to our advantage.”
“In the second set we did not change our strategy and kept hitting strong volleys against them,” Chan Yung-jan said. “In the third set, we tried to reduce our mistakes and were also mindful to play good defense, so we just steadily took one point at a time.”
In the final the Chan sisters face second-seeded Czech duo Lucie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova, who defeated Nao Hibino of Japan and Zhang Kailin of China 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour, 19 minutes in the second semi-final.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“We are happy to ... get into the final and have the chance to defend our title,” Chan Yung-jan said. “We want to retain the Taiwan [Open] title in front of our home fans.”
In the semi-finals of the singles, Chinese world No. 71 Peng proved too strong for Czech wild-card Lucie Safarova as she reeled off a 6-4, 6-2 victory in 1 hour, 21 minutes.
“In this match, I did not want be too fancy and just tried to win each point and take one game at a time,” Peng said. “I was running a lot along the baseline to get to the spot for a good return shot, but I am not as fast as before my [back] surgery [in 2015] and still slowly building up my physical conditioning.”
Photo: RITCHIE B. TONGO / EPA
A disappointed Safarova said she would return to Taiwan.
“It has been a good week here in Taipei. I am happy with my performance and have really enjoyed my stay here,” she said. “People have been super nice to me and I will certainly come back to play in this tournament again.”
In the second semi-final, Ukrainian top seed Svitolina took just 68 minutes to see off Mandy Minella of Luxembourg 6-3, 6-2, despite battling the flu.
Photo: RITCHIE B. TONGO / EPA
“[As] you can hear from my voice ... the flu is still affecting me and I am not at 100 percent right now, but I try not to think about it and just focus on my game,” Svitolina said.
Looking forward to today’s final, she said: “In the final, you don’t know what will happen. She [Peng] is a very good player and it will be tough.”
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