Taiwanese players yesterday completed a clean sweep in the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, with Latisha Chan, Chan Hao-ching and Hsieh Su-wei safely advancing to the third round, as the temperature in Melbourne climbed to a stifling 43°C.
Top seeds Latisha Chan and Andrea Sestini Hlavackova took just 70 minutes to see off the challenge of Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia and Varvara Lepchenko of the US 6-0, 7-5 on Show Court 3.
The Taiwanese-Czech duo saved three of four break points and converted five of 11, winning 65 of the 107 points contested.
Photo: EPA
The top seeds hit 17 winners as they set up a third-round clash with Latisha Chan’s younger sister, Chan Hao-ching, and Katarina Srebotnik.
The 14th seeds had a tougher time, rallying from a set down to overcome Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) in two hours, 24 minutes on Court 13.
The Taiwanese-Slovenian duo saved three of five break points and converted just two of 16, winning 118 of the 226 points contested.
Eighth seeds Hsieh and Peng Shuai cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Lesley Kerkhove of the Netherlands and Lidziya Marozava of Belarus in just 65 minutes on Court 20. The Taiwanese-Chinese duo saved three of six break points and converted six of 14, winning 64 of the 109 points contested.
The former Wimbledon and French Open champions hit 19 winners on their way to a third-round showdown with 12th seeds Raquel Atawo of the US and Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany, who cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Japanese pairing Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato in 53 minutes on Court 13.
In the women’s singles, teenage sensation Marta Kostyuk was in tears yesterday after her tournament adventure ended, but she was determined to make the best of it.
Fourth seed Elina Svitolina breezed past her Ukraine compatriot 6-2, 6-2 in just 59 minutes, leaving the 15-year-old sobbing on her mum’s shoulder, but she was not down for long.
“How much you have to pay Svitolina to have one-hour lesson? I got it for free,” she said.
“I learn that you can play against everyone,” Kostyuk added of facing the world No. 4. “I had the chances, but because I thought, like, she is incredible, she’s a god, I cannot do anything against her, that’s the problem.”
Kostyuk had been labeled the “future of tennis” by some observers after becoming the youngest Australian Open second-round winner since “Swiss Miss” Martina Hingis in 1996.
However, she produced a nervous, error-strewn third-round display against Svitolina and that, she said, was why she was inconsolable as she returned to the locker room.
“Well, because I know that I could play much better. It was, like, honestly I played really, really bad today. Credit to her, of course. I’m not saying she’s bad player. I’m just saying I played bad. I didn’t show even maybe even 10 percent of what I can [do],” she added.
Jannik Sinner continued his quest to become the first man in history to win five Masters 1000 tournaments in a row with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danish qualifier Elmer Moller at the Madrid Open on Sunday. The world leader extended his winning streak to 19 matches, a run that began early March in Indian Wells, and he has captured 24 consecutive victories at the Masters 1000 level, dating back to the Paris Masters last October. Searching for a maiden title at this level on clay, Sinner advanced to the round of 16 at the Caja Magica with a 77-minute performance against
When Paddy Dwyer arrived in China in 1976, crowds jostled to catch a glimpse of him and his companions — the first Western soccer team to play in the country. China was emerging from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and on the brink of market reforms that would take the country from economic stagnation to explosive growth. “All we could see was lines of people running beside our bus, trying to look in the windows, to see their first visual of a white person,” he said. “It was all bicycles,” he said. “There were very few cars to be seen.” Dwyer,
Tennis players are facing an unexpected opponent at the Madrid Open. A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and others, raising concerns. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she is trying to avoid illness by sticking to a diet of chicken breasts, rice and salad. The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame. Sabalenka knocked on wood for luck and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos,” she laughed, adding “I stick to the
Some of Clearlake Capital Group’s largest investors are growing increasingly concerned about how much time the company’s co-founders are spending on sports investments as they have struggled to complete the fundraising for the private equity firm’s latest flagship fund. One of Clearlake’s co-founders, Behdad Eghbali, has been spending what some investors described as a disproportionate amount of time on the firm’s investment in Chelsea Football Club in recent months. Now, co-founder Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, are nearing a record US$3.9 billion deal to acquire the San Diego Padres. That personal investment by Feliciano has set off the latest
RSS