Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Monday survived a fightback by Viktorija Golubic to advance to the second round of the women’s singles at the French Open, while younger brother Hsieh Cheng-peng yesterday advanced to the second round of the men’s doubles.
Hsieh Su-wei, seeded 25th, defeated Swiss world No. 79 Golubic 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 in 1 hour, 40 minutes on the clay courts at Roland Garros.
The Taiwanese world No. 25 saved seven of 14 break points and converted nine of 14, hitting 31 winners to advance, despite her 36 unforced errors.
Photo: AFP
She next faces German world No. 69 Andrea Petkovic, who rallied to defeat Alison Riske of the US 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in 2 hours, 14 minutes.
It will be Hsieh Su-wei’s first-ever meeting with Petkovic, who has won six WTA Tour singles titles.
In the first round of the men’s doubles, Hsieh Cheng-peng and Christopher Rungkat yesterday defeated 16th seeds Austin Krajicek of the US and Artem Sitak of New Zealand 6-3, 6-4 in 69 minutes.
The Taiwanese-Indonesian duo saved all three break points they faced and converted two of five, winning 60 percent of their points on second serve.
Eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro yesterday recovered from a set down against Chilean Nicolas Jarry to ease into the second round.
The former US Open champion, who only returned to action after a knee injury earlier this month, came through his opening match in Paris 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.
The Argentinian next faces either Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka or the US’ Mackenzie McDonald in round two.
Bernard Tomic yesterday suffered a dispiriting exit from Roland Garros and admitted Australian compatriot Nick Kyrgios was right to say that the tournament “sucks.”
Tomic slumped to a 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 defeat by Taylor Fritz of the US, leaving him with just three wins this season.
The final set on a chilly and damp Court 14 was over in just 20 minutes and the match in 88 minutes, the quickest of the tournament so far.
Fellow firebrand Kyrgios last week withdrew from Roland Garros with an elbow injury, but not before saying: “Get rid of the clay, man. Who likes the clay, it is so bad. The French Open sucks compared to this place. Sucks. Absolute sucks.”
Tomic, never far from controversy, was happy to concur.
“I agree with him, with everything,” he said during a monosyllabic news conference.
Tomic’s lack of enthusiasm for the task in hand was encapsulated on match point where a serve that he thought was out led him to the net to offer his hand.
“I thought the match was over. It would be nice to give him the point because that’s how I felt, but it’s okay. We replayed it,” Tomic said.
Accused in the past of not trying in matches and once dubbed by the Australian media as “Tomic the tank engine,” he insisted that he was at 100 percent yesterday.
“Pretty sure I did [give my best]. But, you know, the surface is not good for me,” he said. “I mean, it’s not difficult. It’s just my game is not built for this surface.”
The fiery Australian, who shot to fame by making the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2011 and went on to reach the world top 20, arrived in Paris deep in another slump.
The world No. 84 retired with illness at Lyon last week against world No. 262 Steven Diez of Canada.
For Fritz, it was a first career win at Roland Garros and backed up a solid season on European clay.
The 21-year-old American, ranked 42, was a semi-finalist in Lyon last week, losing to eventual champion Benoit Paire.
He also qualified for the Madrid and Rome Masters before falling to Novak Djokovic and Kei Nishikori respectively.
The city is also special for the American — back in 2016, he proposed to his girlfriend Raquel Pedraza in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. The two are now married with a son, Jordan.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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