Teenager Liang En-shou yesterday fought back from a set down to advance to the second round of the singles at the Taipei OEC Open, but it was not such a good day for her fellow Taiwanese in the doubles.
World No. 276 Liang, who won the Australian Open girls’ singles title in January, defeated Austrian world No. 224 Barbara Haas 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 in 1 hour, 35 minutes at the Taipei Arena.
The Taiwanese 18-year-old saved five of seven break points and converted five of 11, winning 87 of the 159 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with Greek world No. 160 Valentini Grammatikopoulou, who defeated lucky loser Ng Kwanyau of Hong Kong 6-2, 6-2.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
German wild-card Sabine Lisicki stunned Japanese eighth seed Misaki Doi 6-3, 6-2 in just 54 minutes in their first-round match.
World No. 262 Lisicki, who fired down 10 aces, did not face a single break point and converted three of five to set up a second-round clash with world No. 185 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, who ousted Poland’s Magdalena Frech 6-4, 6-4 in 65 minutes.
Chinese fourth seed Zhu Lin had to rally from a set down to defeat Swiss world No. 145 Jil Teichmann 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour, 50 minutes.
World No. 131 Zhu saved three of five break points and converted three of nine, winning 90 of the 171 points contested.
The fourth seed next faces world No. 162 Danka Kovinic of Montenegro, who cruised past Zhang Ling of Hong Kong 6-3, 6-1 in 1 hour.
Russian sixth seed Vitalia Diatchenko also advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Australian world No. 157 Priscilla Hon in 68 minutes.
Diatchenko failed to save the two break points she faced, but converted five of six to set up a second-round clash with qualifier Zhang Yuxuan, who defeated fellow Chinese Lu Jiajing 6-3, 6-2 in 69 minutes.
In the doubles, Taiwanese duo Joanna Garland and Lee Hua-chen fell to a 6-3, 6-3 defeat to Indian pairing Ankita Raina and Karman Thandi, before Chen Pei-hsuan and Wu Fang-hsien were beaten 6-1, 5-7, 10-4 by second seeds Han Xinyun of China and Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand in the late match.
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