All three Taiwanese yesterday safely negotiated the first round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, with Latisha Chan, Chan Hao-ching and Hsieh Su-wei advancing to the second round at the first Grand Slam of the year.
Top seeds Latisha Chan and Andrea Sestini Hlavackova took just 61 minutes to see off the challenge of Chinese duo Han Xinyun and Liang Chen 6-3, 6-0 on Court 13 at Melbourne Park.
The Taiwanese-Czech pairing did not face a single break point and converted four of seven as their opponents sent down eight double faults.
Photo: EPA
The top seeds hit 15 winners to set up a second-round clash with Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia and Varvara Lepchenko of the US, who defeated Chinese duo Wang Qiang and Wang Yafan 6-4, 6-3.
Fourteenth seeds Chan Hao-ching and Katarina Srebotnik faced a tougher time against Laura Robson of Britain and Coco Vandeweghe of the US, battling to a 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 victory in 1 hour, 36 minutes on Court 5.
The Taiwanese-Slovenian duo saved nine of 11 break points and converted three of six, hitting 24 winners on their way to a second-round match against Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia, who ousted Tatjana Maria of Germany and Pauline Parmentier of France 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Photo: Screen grab from Facebook
Eighth seeds Hsieh and Peng Shuai, the former Wimbledon and French Open champions, defeated Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania and Maria Irigoyen of Argentina 6-3, 7-5 in 1 hour, 18 minutes on Court 22.
The Taiwanese-Chinese duo saved four of six break points and converted four of six, hitting 19 winners on their way to a second-round clash with Lesley Kerkhove of the Netherlands and Lidziya Marozava of Belarus, who defeated Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine and Makoto Ninomiya of Japan 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.
In the singles, Rafael Nadal had to wait while Caroline Wozniacki saved two match points and worked her way back into the Australian Open in the preceding match on Rod Laver Arena.
Nadal, last year’s runner-up, wasted no time in reaching the third round, dropping only one service game and making just 10 unforced errors in a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) win over Leonardo Mayer.
“It’s an important victory for me, I mean, he’s a tough opponent. Leonardo is a player with big potential,” said Nadal, who won the French and US Opens last year, but had his preparation for Australia delayed because of an injured right knee. “After a while without being on the competition ... second victory in a row, that’s very important.”
There was more drama earlier on the center court and Margaret Court Arena, when second-seeded Wozniacki and 2008 runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had to come back from big deficits.
Wozniacki was 5-1 down and facing two match points in the third set against No. 119 Jana Fett before deciding she had no choice but to attack.
“That was crazy,” Wozniacki said after winning the last six games in a memorable 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory. “I don’t know how I got back into the match. I was like: ‘This is my last chance.’ At 5-1, 40-15, I felt like I was one foot out of the tournament. She served a great serve down the T — it was just slightly out. I was kind of lucky.”
Wozniacki won the next nine points, and 24 of the 31 points played from when she first faced match point.
She clinched a 75-minute third set on her first match point when Fett netted a backhand.
Former No. 1 Wozniacki will next play No. 30 Kiki Bertens, who beat Nicole Gibbs 7-6 (7/3), 6-0.
Tsonga rallied from 5-2 in the fifth to overcome Denis Shapovalov 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 in a 3 hours, 37 minutes that contained one of his nonchalant between-the-legs shots on an important point, while 38-year-old Ivo Karlovic overcame Yuichi Sugita 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 4-6, 12-10.
Marta Kostyuk came from the other angle, the 15-year-old qualifier followed up her first-round win over 25th seed Peng Shuai with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over wild-card Olivia Rogowska.
Last year’s Australian Open junior champion, who entered the first major of the season ranked No. 521, Kostyuk at 15 became the youngest player since Martina Hingis in 1996 to win main draw matches at the season-opening major.
Among the seeded men advancing were No. 6 Marin Cilic, who beat Joao Sousa 6-1, 7-5, 6-2, and No. 10 Pablo Carreno Busta, who was leading 6-2, 3-0 when Gilles Simon retired from their second-round match with a thigh injury.
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