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.
By the time Cameron Menzies finally left the arena on Monday, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand had trickled down his wrist, part of his forearm and — somehow — up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappeared down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of Professional Darts Corp (PDC). The physical scars from Menzies’ encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby at the Darts World Championship would be gone within a few weeks.
Manchester United on Monday blew the lead three times to miss out on moving up to fifth in the Premier League as AFC Bournemouth would not be beaten in a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. United have lost just once in their past 10 games, but Ruben Amorim would be frustrated as more points at home were frittered away despite arguably the best attacking display of his reign in charge. Amad Diallo and Casemiro gave the hosts a halftime lead either side of Antoine Semenyo’s equalizer. Two Bournemouth goals from Evanilson and Marcus Tavernier in seven minutes at the start of the
LOW-GOAL SHOOT-OUT: Of the nine penalties in the shoot-out, only three went in, with Flamengo’s Samuel Lino, and Vitinha and Nuno Mendes of PSG netting Matvei Safonov on Wednesday made four straight penalty saves in a penalty shoot-out to help Paris Saint-Germain beat Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup final and win a sixth trophy of the year. The Russian goalkeeper was thrown in the air by his teammates after his exploits in the shoot-out, which was won 2-1 by PSG after a 1-1 draw after extra-time. It completed a trophy-laden 12 months for the French team, who had already won the Trophee des Champions, Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup — also on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur in
Italian Luca de Aliprandini described Saturday’s World Cup giant slalom at Val d’Isere as the hardest race of his life, coming two days after his Swiss partner Michelle Gisin suffered a heavy fall in training which required neck surgery. De Aliprandini finished 26th in the men’s event won by Loic Meillard, but the result paled into insignificance with two-time Olympic ski champion Gisin in hospital with injuries to her wrist, knee and cervical spine (neck). “It was Michelle’s wish that I race here. I couldn’t say no to her, but it was the toughest race of my entire life,” an emotional De
RSS