The Chan sisters yesterday cruised into the second round of the doubles at the China Open, while Wimbledon champion Simona Halep suffered a shock defeat in the second round of the singles.
Sixth seeds Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan crushed Chinese duo Duan Yingying and Zheng Saisai 6-1, 6-1 in 62 minutes on the hard courts at the National Tennis Center in Beijing.
The Taiwanese sisters saved all five break points they faced and converted five of 10, winning 53 of the 83 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with Japanese duo Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara, who defeated Anna Blinkova of Russia and Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday.
The Chans are looking to join fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic in the top eight doubles teams at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen later this month.
The Taiwanese sisters are fifth in the Race to Shenzhen rankings with 4,145 points.
Halep was beaten by Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova, with the Romanian appearing to struggle with a back injury.
The 28-year-old lost 6-2, 6-3 in 64 minutes to bring her tournament to an early end.
World No. 5 Halep was far from her best as she went down meekly to world No. 38 Alexandrova.
She was also forced out of last week’s Wuhan Open because of her troublesome back.
Canadian teenager Bianca Andreescu had to dig deep as she won her first match since her US Open heroics.
The 19-year-old rising star defeated world No. 60 Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 in what was at times an unconvincing performance, finishing the match with 31 unforced errors.
The world No. 6, who stunned Serena Williams in the final at Flushing Meadows in New York, arrived in Beijing on a run of 13 consecutive wins.
She looked all set to carry on her blistering form against Sasnovich and emphatically captured the first set, but Andreescu struggled with her serve in the second, totting up six double faults, and was in danger of losing her cool in the haze of the Chinese capital.
Normal order was restored in the deciding set, Andreescu breaking Sasnovich’s first service game and then holding her own to take a 3-0 lead, an advantage she refused to surrender.
In the second round the Canadian sensation faces Elise Mertens, the Belgian world No. 23.
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