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.”
STILL IN THE HUNT: Rasmus Hojlund took his goal tally for SSC Napoli to nine as the champions cruised to a win at US Cremonese and stayed two points behind the leaders Inter on Sunday stayed at the Serie A summit after beating Atalanta BC 1-0 to maintain their slender lead over local rivals AC Milan. Lautaro Martinez netted the only goal of the game in Bergamo for Inter, who lead Milan, 3-0 winners against Hellas Verona thanks to Christoper Nkunku’s first Serie A goals, by a single point at the top of the division. The Argentina striker has scored in four consecutive league matches to end what has been a tricky year in positive style. “I ended last season in a lot of pain... I kept going during the Club World Cup and international
Algeria on Sunday became the third country after Egypt and Nigeria to qualify for the knockout stage of the Africa Cup of Nations by edging Burkina Faso 1-0 in Rabat through a Riyad Mahrez penalty. Defending champions Ivory Coast failed to join the trio after drawing 1-1 with Cameroon in a lively showdown in Marrakesh. Elsewhere, Mozambique ended a 39-match wait for a first victory by beating Gabon 3-2, while Sudan got back into contention for a last-16 slot by beating Equatorial Guinea 1-0 in Casablanca. Captain Mahrez converted from the penalty spot midway through the first half and Algeria then held on
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
RSS