Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the doubles final at the Hungarian Ladies Open yesterday, while fellow Taiwanese Chan Hao-ching upstaged elder sister Chan Yung-jan on Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the doubles at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
In Budapest, fourth seeds Hsieh and Oksana Kalashnikova took just 60 minutes to see off the challenge of Serbian duo Aleksandra Krunic and Nina Stojanovic 6-2, 6-2.
The Taiwanese-Georgian pairing saved five of seven break points and converted six of 14 to dance to a final against either top seeds Timea Babos and Lucie Safarova or Arina Rodionova and Galina Voskoboeva, who are due to play their semi-final today.
Photo: EPA
In the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, fifth seeds Chan Hao-ching and Yaroslava Shvedova stunned French top seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic 7-5, 3-6, 10-3 in 1 hour, 26 minutes.
“We lost in a super tiebreaker and still I think we had lots of opportunities,” Mladenovic told the WTA Web site. “We had a big lead in the first set and I think we should have closed it out and won probably, but it’s tennis, and the girls are playing well as well and in the third set anything can happen.”
The Taiwanese-Kazakh duo saved four of eight break points and converted four of seven to set up a semi-final against sixth seeds Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic and Peng Shuai of China, who ousted fourth seeds Chan Yung-jan and Martina Hingis 6-4, 6-2 in 1 hour, 10 minutes.
In the singles, top seed Angelique Kerber journeyed to her first Dubai semi-finals, while Caroline Wozniacki reached her sixth.
Kerber, who is two wins away from returning to the world No. 1 ranking, beat Ana Konjuh of Croatia 6-3, 6-2 in the quarter-finals.
Kerber was next due to face seventh seed Elina Svitolina after the Ukrainian improved her career record against Lauren Davis to 4-0 after defeating the American 6-0, 6-4.
Kerber leads Svitolina 5-4 in career meetings, but Svitolina has won their past two matches, including in Australia last month.
“She won like the important moments in Brisbane, so I will just trying to take the positive things from the match,” Kerber said. “I will talk to my coach, and go out there tomorrow and take the new challenge.”
Wozniacki, who won the Dubai title in 2011, defeated 17-year-old American Catherine “Cici” Bellis 6-3, 6-2.
“It was really fun for me to see what the highest level is” like, Bellis said.
Wozniacki was next due to face Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia after the world No. 35 reached her first semi-final of the season with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Wang Qiang of China.
“She’s a player that mixes the pace up quite a bit,” Wozniacki said of Sevastova. “She’s definitely going to try and get me out of my own rhythm.”
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