The Chan sisters on Sunday advanced to the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles at the French Open, while fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the third round of the women’s doubles.
Unseeded defending champions Latisha Chan and Ivan Dodig knocked out eighth seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Robert Farah of Colombia 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) in their second-round clash in 1 hour, 18 minutes on Court 7 at Roland Garros.
The Taiwanese-Croatian duo saved three of five break points and converted four of five, winning 56 percent of their points on second service to set up a quarter-final against French duo Amandine Hesse and Benjamin Bonzi, who rallied from a set down to defeat Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico 3-6, 7-5, 10-4.
Photo: AP
Sixth seeds Chan Hao-ching and Oliver Marach defeated Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain and Neal Skupski of Britain 6-4, 7-5 in 1 hour, 20 minutes later on Court 7.
The Taiwanese-Austrian duo saved both break points they faced and converted two of three, winning 75 percent of their points on first serve to advance to a quarter-final against Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi of Pakistan, who defeated Darija Jurak of Croatia and Austin Krajicek of the US 6-4, 4-6, 10-7.
In the women’s doubles, third seeds Hsieh and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic were beaten 7-5, 6-1 by Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 7-5, 6-1 in 1 hour, 29 minutes on Court 1.
In the fourth round of the men’s singles yesterday, Novak Djokovic became the first man to reach the quarter-finals for 10 successive seasons, while Kei Nishikori set up the toughest challenge on a clay court — facing Rafael Nadal.
Top seed and world No. 1 Djokovic continued his bid to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously for the second time by thrashing Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
“It was tricky with the rain, but that’s Paris,” the 2016 champion said after playing in drizzly conditions. “I’m really confident with my serve. I hope it continues like that.”
Japanese seventh seed Nishikori came back from 1-4 and 3-5 down in the final set to beat Benoit Paire of France and set up a quarter-final against Nadal.
Nishikori won 6-2, 6-7 (8/10), 6-2, 6-7 (8/10), 7-5 in a shade under four hours.
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