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.
Novak Djokovic on Monday advanced to the China Open final after Daniil Medvedev was disqualified late in the second set, when a ball that came off the Russian’s racquet hit a spectator. Taiwanese player Hsieh Su-wei and her partner, Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, yesterday defeated Chinese duo Wang Xiyu and Jiang Xinyu 6-1, 1-6 and 10-4 to reach women’s doubles round of 16. Hsieh was the only Taiwanese player to advance as compatriots Wu Fang-hsien, Chan Hao-ching and Liang En-shuo were eliminated in round of 32. A man sitting in the stands behind Medvedev’s side of the court was seen holding
China’s Wang Xiyu, fresh from conquering top seed Alexandra Eala, toppled Zhang Shuai to win Asian Games women’s tennis singles gold yesterday — and a ticket to the Los Angeles Olympics. The 25-year-old Wang breezed past her compatriot 6-2, 6-1 in 66 minutes at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in Nagoya. Tennis is one of seven sports at the Games where the winners receive an Olympic qualification place. Wang paid tribute to the 37-year-old Zhang, who has won multiple Grand Slam doubles titles and has now added a second Asian Games singles silver medal to the one she won in 2018 in
Hong Kong’s men’s rugby sevens team romped to a third consecutive Asian Games gold with a dominant display in a 26-0 victory over China yesterday. Wing Harry Sayers scored a pair of first-half tries, added to by Dafydd Phillips to put Hong Kong in charge 21-0 at the break. When flying wing Juan Esono Mba Oyana scored Hong Kong’s fourth try straight from the second-half kick-off the result was beyond doubt. “Amazing, amazing. The Asian Games has been a dream of mine for so long now,” said Sayers. Hong Kong’s success was built not only on scoring prowess but also a defense that conceded
Taiwanese tennis players Hsieh Su-wei and Chan Hao-ching on Saturday revived their feud at the Asian Games, with Chan fuming at Hsieh for a handshake snub at the end of their women’s doubles final in Nagoya, Japan. The pair last month did not shake hands following a tense US Open doubles match in which Hsieh’s playing partner Jelena Ostapenko roared at Chan’s coach, who is also her older sister, in the player’s box after sealing victory. The Taiwanese rivals later traded barbs on social media about the incident. Chan on Saturday said she had been willing to put all that
RSS