Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Martina Hingis continued their seemingly unstoppable march to a second consecutive doubles title at the Aegon International in Eastbourne, England, on Friday.
On a rain-affected day on the grass courts on the south coast of England, the second seeds took just 43 minutes to rout wild-cards Nicole Melichar of the US and Anna Smith of Britain 6-0, 6-1 in the semi-finals of the Wimbledon warm-up tournament.
The Taiwanese-Swiss duo did not face a single break point and converted five of eight to complete a second victory over Melichar and Smith in a week, after they also defeated the same pairing 6-3, 6-3 in the semi-finals of the Mallorca Open the previous week.
Photo: EPA
Chan and Hingis were due to face Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua in the final after press time last night.
The Australian duo ousted third seeds Timea Babos of Hungary and Czech Andrea Hlavackova 6-2, 6-3 in 60 minutes in the earlier semi-final.
The Taiwanese-Swiss duo had a 1-0 career record against the Australians after a victory in the round-of-16 in Miami earlier this year as they looked to add to their titles at Indian Wells, Rome, Madrid and Mallorca.
Photo: EPA
In the men’s singles, Novak Djokovic eased into the final after beating Russia’s Daniil Medvedev.
Top seed Djokovic, playing the week before Wimbledon for the first time since 2010, brushed aside Medvedev 6-4, 6-4 and was to face second seed Gael Monfils in the final, which was to finish after press time.
The Frenchman edged out fellow countryman Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (7/4).
British hopes were extinguished as a back injury forced Johanna Konta to pull out of her clash against Karolina Pliskova, with Heather Watson then falling in three sets, losing 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 to Caroline Wozniacki.
Seventh-ranked Konta had a nasty fall in Thursday’s quarter-final win over Angelique Kerber and was subsequently diagnosed with a thoracic spine injury.
In other tennis news, Andy Murray is to begin his defense of the Wimbledon title against Kazakh lucky loser Alexander Bublik after the draw was made on Friday for the third Grand Slam of the year at the All England Club.
The Scot, who is bidding to win Wimbledon for a third time, was drawn in the same half as two-time champion Rafael Nadal, with Djokovic and Roger Federer in the bottom half.
In the women’s singles, Kerber is to open up against US qualifier Irina Falconi and is seeded to face Pliskova in the semi-finals.
The Taiwanese in the draw were Lu Yen-hsun, who faces Simone Bolelli of Italy in the first round of the men’s draw.
In the women’s singles, Chang Kai-chen is to play China’s Wang Qiang, while Hsieh Su-wei is to play Konta.
In the men’s doubles, Hsieh Cheng-peng and Max Schnur of the US face Belarussian Max Mirnyi and Marcin Matkowski of Poland.
In the women’s doubles, Chan Hao-ching and partner Monica Niculescu of Romania are to play Raluca Olaru of Romania and Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay; Hsieh Su-wei and Czech Barbora Krejcikova face German Julia Gorges and Czech Barbora Strycova; Chang and Sloane Stephens of the US are to play the Chinese pairing of Liang Chen and Duan Yingying; Chan Yung-jan and Hingis face Alize Cornet of France and Swiss Xenia Knoll; and Chuang Chia-jung and partner Misaki Doi of Japan face Francesca Schiavone of Italy and Georgian Oksana Kalashnikova.
Elsewhere, Venus Williams on Friday was sued by the family of a Florida man who died after being involved in a two-vehicle crash that police say was the fault of the world’s former top-ranked player.
A civil complaint claimed that Williams was negligent in the June 9 crash near her Florida residence in Palm Beach Gardens.
A passenger in a small sedan that collided with Williams’ larger SUV, Jerome Barson, 78, died on June 22, according to the suit and, separately, the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s office.
While Williams was not given a citation by police for the crash, she was found at fault for failing to yield the right of way, according to a police report filed by the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department.
The lawsuit came just days before Williams is to begin play at Wimbledon and casts a cloud over her involvement in the tournament, where she is slated to play against Belgian Elise Mertens tomorrow.
Additional reporting by Reuters
SHOCK KNOCKOUT: US Open finalist Ben Shelton was caught off-guard by Arthur Gea yesterday, after skipping the Japan Open, which ended last week, due to fitness concerns Daniil Medvedev has won his first match since being disqualified at the China Open for hitting a spectator in the eye with a ball he hit into the stands. Medvedev beat Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a second-round match on Saturday at the Shanghai Masters, an ATP 1000 tennis event. Medvedev, who now holds a 10-2 career edge over Struff, had been disqualified during his semi-final on Monday last week against Novak Djokovic for hitting the spectator with a ball the Russian player had hit into the stands at Beijing. Medvedev, who apologized after the incident, saying it was an accident, lost
COMPETiTIVE FINISH: Powering through the tournament in China, Lin Yun-ju finished second, losing in the final to the world No. 1 in a close-fought match Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju finished second in the men’s singles at the World Table Tennis (WTT) China Smash on Sunday in the final against world No. 1 Sora Matsushima of Japan. Lin, the world No. 6, recovered from a loss in the first two games to take a 3-2 lead, but was overtaken by Matsushima, who won the match 4-3. In the 55-minute final at Shougang Park in Beijing, Lin finished as the runner-up, with game scores of 7-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 9-11. Lin entered Sunday’s final with a 6-1 career record against Matsushima, although the Japanese player had won their
SAFETY CONCERNS: The Asian Cup is still expected to take place in Saudi Arabia next year, despite multiple sporting events being postponed after the Houthi attack in Riyadh The Asian Cup soccer tournament is on track to take place in Saudi Arabia early next year, local organizers said yesterday, but golf’s Asian Tour has postponed the Saudi International indefinitely in the aftermath of a deadly attack on Riyadh. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement claimed responsibility for the strike on Riyadh’s international airport, which killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 300. Australia also withdrew its team from the urban cycling World Championships yesterday, citing safety concerns over travelling to Riyadh, where the event is scheduled to take place early next month. The Six Kings Slam exhibition tennis tournament in Riyadh
Manchester City will face the full fury of Anfield on Sunday when the Premier League leaders confront old rivals Liverpool in their first game since being found guilty of breaking financial rules. City can expect a hostile reception from Liverpool fans after an independent commission found they arranged “sham” deals to artificially inflate revenues and reduce costs by more than US$1.2 billion between 2009 and 2018. The financial breaches occurred during a period in which City won three Premier League titles and numerous other trophies, with Liverpool struggling to break the Etihad Stadium outfit’s silverware monopoly. City have appealed the verdict and manager
RSS