Hsieh Su-wei on Monday advanced to the second round of the women’s doubles at the Madrid Open, but fellow Taiwanese the Chan sisters fell to an upset loss at La Caga Magica in the Spanish capital.
Fifth seeds Hsieh and Barbora Strycova rallied from a set down to defeat Andreea Mitu of Romania and Alexandra Panova of Russia 3-6, 6-4, 10-3 in 1 hour, 12 minutes.
The Taiwanese-Czech duo failed to save any of the three break points they faced, but converted both break points they created, winning 57 percent of points on their second serve to advance to a second-round clash against Jennifer Brady of the US and Jessica Moore of Australia, who defeated Desirae Krawczyk of the US and Makoto Ninomiya of Japan 7-5, 6-2.
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Seventh seeds Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan fell to a shock 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 defeat to wild-card entry Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Vera Zvonareva of Russia in 1 hour, 36 minutes.
The Taiwanese duo sent down seven double faults and only won 31 percent of their second-serve points in a disappointing start to their clay-court campaign.
In the women’s singles, defending champion Petra Kvitova blunted a late attack from France’s Kristina Mladenovic to win 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) and advance to the third round.
The Czech second seed, chasing a fourth title on La Caja Magica clay, has now won her Past five matches over qualifier Mladenovic in straight sets.
“It was a pretty difficult match. I fought hard in the end and that’s what counts,” Kvitova said. “The clay conditions here are a bit different compared to other venues, so I needed time to fight it out.”
Kvitova took the opening set on a break and started the second set with another, but Mladenovic broke back for 3-3 and eventually forced the contest to a tiebreaker, which Kvitova captured.
“I had to fight, but I’m glad that I had this [kind of] match. Hopefully, it’s given me a bit more freedom for the next round,” the Stuttgart champion said.
Sloane Stephens beat former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to equal her best showing at the event, defeating the two-time Australian Open winner for the fourth consecutive time.
Belarussian Azarenka committed nine double faults in going down to the American eighth seed.
“I was taking control from the baseline points, I was doing the right things,” Azarenka said. “I was playing smart tennis, but I didn’t create anything with my serve today and it was really frustrating. I didn’t really have a game plan, that’s something I need to take a look at and fix. I need to make it more simple and just do the right things.”
Former US Open winner Stephens also reached the third round in 2014 and last year.
Dutch seventh seed Kiki Bertens advanced past 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko 6-4, 6-3.
Last year’s losing Madrid finalist Bertens hammered 11 aces as she went through in 1 hour, 20 minutes, breaking Ostapenko four times.
In the first round of the men’s singles, Russian 11th seed Karen Khachanov ended a five-match losing streak as he put out Spain’s Jaume Munar 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3.
An indifferent season continued for 2017 ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov, with the Bulgarian falling to Taylor Fritz 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (7/4).
Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany defeated Mikhail Kukushkin 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), while Frances Tiafoe beat Georgia’s Nikolaz Basilashvili 6-7 (8/10), 6-3, 6-4.
Richard Gasquet, playing for the first time since October last year due to injury, beat Spanish youngster Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, last weekend’s Estoril semi-finalist, 7-5, 7-6 (7/5).
Gael Monfils, the 15th seed, continued an injury comeback, taking out Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-1.
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