The Chan sisters’ bid for a spot in the season-ending WTA Finals suffered a setback yesterday when the Taiwanese sixth seeds were routed in the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Wuhan Open.
Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan, who claimed their fourth title of the season in Osaka, Japan, last week, fell to a 6-1, 6-1 defeat to fourth seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs in just 55 minutes on the hard courts in China.
The German-Dutch duo saved two of the three break points they faced and converted six of 11 to advance to the semi-finals and boost their chance of claiming a spot at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China, next month.
Photo: AFP
Groenefeld and Schuurs are currently eighth in the “Race to Shenzhen” rankings with 3,560 points, while the Chan sisters are fifth on 4,145.
However, despite the heavy defeat, the Chans’ bid was boosted earlier when seventh seeds Nicole Melichar of the US and Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic, 10th with 3,215 ranking points, fell to a 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 10-6 loss to Makota Ninomiya of Japan and Yang Zhaoxuan of China in their quarter-final.
The WTA Finals take place from Oct. 27 to Nov. 3 and feature this season’s top eight singles players and doubles teams.
In the singles, Ashleigh Barty marched into her sixth semi-final of the season, describing her victory over Petra Martic as one of the best matches she has played.
The world No. 1 impressed in an entertaining quarter-final that saw her fire 39 winners en route to a 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 6-3 win against Martic.
Barty now gets a shot at revenge when she takes on powerful Belarussian Aryna Sabalenka today in a rematch of their Wuhan semi-final last year.
Against Martic, Barty fell behind early in the first and third sets, but retaliated with some creative shot-making to reach the last four for a third year in a row.
“I think that was a very, very high-quality match. I think that was probably one of the better matches that I’ve played in recent times,” the reigning French Open champion said.
“It could have gone either way. I was happy how I was able to fight in the end, put a lot of pressure on her in a lot of those service games in the third,” she said.
Martic, the Croatian world No. 22, had not lost a three-setter since March, but saw her streak of 16 on the trot snapped by the relentless Barty.
“She’s one of the best movers on the Tour,” Barty said of Martic. “That [streak] doesn’t surprise me.”
Sabalenka, the defending champion and seeded nine this week, overcame a second-set dip to halt the inspired run of Kazakh wild-card Elena Rybakina 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.
The 21-year-old is tied at 2-2 head-to-head with Barty.
Sabalenka improved her strong career record on Chinese courts to 27 wins against just six losses — including 10 victories in a row in Wuhan.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care