The Chan sisters, fresh from their gold-medal winning performance at the Taipei Summer Universiade on Tuesday, got their US Open campaigns off to a winning start on Thursday at Flushing Meadows in New York.
Elder sister Chan Yung-jan and Nenad Zimonjic took 59 minutes to see off Spanish duo Arantxa Parra Santonja and Marc Lopez 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) in the first round of the mixed doubles on Court 7.
The Taiwanese-Serbian pairing saved two of four break points and converted four of five, winning 66 of the 109 points contested to advance to the second round.
Photo: AFP
Younger sister Chan Hao-ching and Michael Venus of New Zealand cruised into the second round of the mixed doubles with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over US duo Amanda Anisimova and Christian Harrison in just 53 minutes on Court 11.
The third seeds saved all seven break points they faced and converted three of four, winning 58 of the 104 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with Alicja Rosolska of Poland and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico, who defeated Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Mate Pavic of Croatia 6-3, 5-7, 11-9 in 76 minutes.
In the first round of the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and Misaki Doi of Japan rallied from a set down to upset eighth seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic 5-7, 6-2, 6-0 in 1 hour, 48 minutes on Court 14.
The duo saved six of nine break points and converted seven of 12, winning 93 of the 162 points contested.
In the singles, former champions Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal battled into the last 32 while the women’s draw lost the fifth seed from its top eight.
Federer recorded his 80th career win, but he needed five sets for the second successive match before claiming a 6-1, 6-7 (3/7), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Mikhail Youzhny.
Youzhny said he had cramped, which meant he could move left to right, but not forward and back.
“That was hard to watch,” Federer said. “But this was probably the best match we have played against each other.”
Meanwhile, world No. 1 Nadal saw off Japan’s Taro Daniel 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 after being blown off court in the first set.
Andrey Rublev became the second teenager to make the third round when he stunned Bulgarian seventh-seed Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
Rublev, just 19 and world No. 53, joins 18-year-old Denis Shapovalov of Canada in the last 32 at a Grand Slam event for the first time.
On the women’s side, a record was set when Shelby Rogers from the US and 25th-seeded Australian Daria Gavrilova played out the longest-ever women’s singles match.
Rogers won their 3 hour, 33 minute clash 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 7-6 (7/5).
Their second-round tie went past the previous-longest of 3 hours and 23 minutes it took Johanna Konta to beat Garbine Muguruza in the second round two years ago.
Russian eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 champion, saw her outside chances of taking the world No. 1 ranking end when she lost to Japan’s Kurumi Nara 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova, last year’s runner-up, downed American qualifier Nicole Gibbs 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
She was joined in the third round by fourth seed Elina Svitolina, one of the pretenders to her top ranking, and French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.
Ostapenko, the 12th-seeded Latvian, made the third round for the first time with a 6-4, 6-4 win against Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.
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