Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan on Friday kept their bid for a second doubles title of the season on track at the Qatar Open with a victory in the semi-finals at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha.
The Taiwanese duo defeated Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) in 1 hour, 27 minutes.
The sisters saved six of 10 break points and converted five of 13, edging past the conquerors of fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei by winning 72 of the 140 points contested to advance to their third final of the season, following their two final appearances in Australia last month — a loss in Adelaide and a victory in Hobart.
Photo: AFP
In the final the Chan sisters were due to face fourth seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands, who defeated Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and Alison Riske of the US 6-2, 7-5 in Friday’s other semi-final.
In the singles, Simona Halep won five games in a row in the deciding set of an astonishing match against Elina Svitolina to power through to the final.
Seemingly down and almost out at 1-4 in the third set, world No. 3 Halep was roared on by a large set of Romanian fans to secure a remarkable 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory over the Ukrainian.
She was to play Belgium’s Elise Mertens in yesterday’s final after the world No. 21 surprisingly beat three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 in the other last-four match.
Halep described her dramatic win as “unbelievable.”
“I promised myself I would never give up against her again because I lost two matches very bad,” Halep said. “She played amazing. She moved very well, she hit the ball strong, she didn’t miss much.”
It was her first win against the world No. 7 since 2017.
She was to play her 34th career final and will rise to the rank of No. 2 in the world whatever the result.
Mertens’ victory was the second time this week she has beaten a player in the top 10, having dispatched world No. 8 Kiki Bertens in the quarter-finals.
The Qatar final was to be her sixth singles’ career final and she has only lost one of those, in Turkey in 2017 to Svitolina.
“I knew it was going to be a really difficult match,” Mertens said. “I mean, I had to play aggressive, stay on my line, because she can put that one ball back in the court.”
In a tournament blighted by injury and withdrawals, with some players complaining about workload, it is notable that both Halep and Mertens played Fed Cup matches last weekend before flying straight to Doha.
“I think it really helps when you play Fed Cup,” Mertens said. “I didn’t win my matches, but ... I worked hard that week.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but