Rising Taiwanese tennis star Liang En-shou yesterday cruised into the quarter-finals of the Taipei OEC Open, while Thai second seed Luksika Kumkhum also advanced at the Taipei Arena.
Liang, the 18-year-old reigning Australian Open girls’ singles champion, defeated Greek world No. 160 Valentini Grammatikopoulou 6-3, 6-1 in just 58 minutes.
The Taiwanese world No. 276 saved the only break point she faced and converted four of eight, winning 61 of the 103 points contested to ease into the quarter-finals at the WTA 125k event.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Liang next faces German wild-card Sabine Lisicki, after the world No. 262 ousted Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour, 19 minutes.
Lisicki, who mixed five aces with six double faults, saved six of nine break points and converted five of 11, winning 85 of the 160 points contested.
Liang faces a tough workload today, as she is also scheduled to play in the quarter-finals of the doubles with fellow Taiwanese Lee Ya-hsuan against Indian duo Ankita Raina and Karman Thandi.
In other second-round singles matches, world No. 81 Kumkhum advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Australian lucky loser Lizette Cabrera in 65 minutes.
The second seed saved four of five break points and converted three of six, winning 65 of the 114 points contested to advance to a quarter-final against Japanese fifth seed Nao Hibino.
World No. 119 Hibino defeated South Korea’s Jang Su-jeong 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour, 34 minutes.
The Japanese saved seven of nine break points and converted four of five, winning 74 of the 137 points contested.
Also advancing was Chinese fourth seed Zhu Lin, who won a tough match against Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in 1 hour, 59 minutes.
The world No. 131 next faces Russian sixth seed Vitalia Diatchenko, who rallied from a set down to battle past Chinese qualifier Zhang Yuxuan 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in 2 hours, 17 minutes.
World No. 211 Bibiane Schoofs defeated China’s Xun Fangying 6-4, 6-2 in 66 minutes, despite sending down six double faults.
The Dutch player next faces Czech qualifier Tereza Martincova after the world No. 212 defeated Ivana Jorovic of Serbia 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) in 1 hour, 34 minutes.
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess. “I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.” “I just
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
Top seeded Jessica Pegula on Friday once again fought back from a set down to reach the WTA Charleston Open semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against Russia’s Diana Shnaider. Defending champion Pegula has lost the first set in all three of her matches at the tournament so far, but again dug deep to maintain her hopes of retaining the title. The world No. 5 from the US took 2 hours, 10 minutes to defeat 19th-ranked Shnaider, relying on a formidable service game that included eight aces. Shnaider battled well in the first two sets and broke early for a 2-0 lead
RSS