Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan yesterday advanced to the doubles final at the Wuhan Open, while unseeded Ashleigh Barty upset eighth seed Jelena Ostapenko to reach the singles final.
Top seeds Chan and Martina Hingis won a hard-fought semi-final against third seeds Sania Mirza of India and Peng Shuai of China 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in 1 hour, 48 minutes on Center Court at the Optics Valley International Tennis Center in Wuhan, China.
The Taiwanese-Swiss duo saved seven of 12 break points and converted six of 13, winning 73 of the 138 points contested to advance to today’s final against Shuko Aoyama of Japan and Yang Zhaoxuan of China after they were handed a walkover when Australian fourth seeds Barty and Casey Dellacqua pulled out of the second semi-final, with Barty citing fatigue.
Photo: AFP
Aoyama and Yang progressed through the quarter-finals on Thursday when Russian second seeds Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova retired in the first set.
Chan and Hingis, who won the US Open title earlier this month, are looking to claim their eighth title of the season.
Regardless of the result of the final, Hingis is set to replace Lucie Safarova at the top of the WTA Tour doubles rankings on Monday.
Photo: AFP
In the singles, Barty took 1 hour, 14 minutes to defeat Latvian Ostapenko 6-3, 6-0.
World No. 37 Barty saved one of the two break points she faced and converted five of 10, winning 61 of the 98 points contested, as French Open champion and world No. 10 Ostapenko saw her winning streak in Asia come to an end after winning her second career title in Seoul on Sunday.
In the final, Barty faces French world No. 20 Caroline Garcia, who defeated Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour, 19 minutes.
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