The Chan sisters have qualified for the season-ending WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China, later this month, the WTA announced yesterday.
Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan began the season as losing finalists at the Brisbane International before claiming their first title at the Hobart International.
The Taiwanese sisters went on to capture three more titles — the Qatar Open, the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne, England, and the Pan Pacific Open in Osaka, Japan.
Photo: CNA
It is the third time the Chans have qualified for the WTA Finals and in 2015 they became the third pair of sisters to qualify for the event after Manuela and Katerina Maleeva in 1986, and Serena and Venus Williams in 2009.
That year they advanced to the semi-finals before bowing out to eventual champions Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza. They returned the following year, but were knocked out in the opening round.
Latisha Chan also reached the semi-finals in 2007 with fellow Taiwanese Chuang Chia-jung.
“It’s been great playing with my sister again after taking a break for a couple years,” Latisha Chan told the WTA Web site. “We’ve put in a lot of hard work this season and to see it pay off in this way, allowing us to make our return to the WTA Finals, is really amazing.”
“I’m excited to qualify for the WTA Finals for the third time with my sister,” Chan Hao-Ching said. “I have good memories from 2015 and 2016, and we are looking forward to playing our best tennis in front of the Shenzhen crowd.”
The Chan sisters join fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova at the season-ending event along with Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka; Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic; Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yifan; and Samantha Stosur and Zhang Shuai.
The WTA Finals run from Oct. 27 to Nov. 3 at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center.
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess. “I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.” “I just
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
Top seeded Jessica Pegula on Friday once again fought back from a set down to reach the WTA Charleston Open semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against Russia’s Diana Shnaider. Defending champion Pegula has lost the first set in all three of her matches at the tournament so far, but again dug deep to maintain her hopes of retaining the title. The world No. 5 from the US took 2 hours, 10 minutes to defeat 19th-ranked Shnaider, relying on a formidable service game that included eight aces. Shnaider battled well in the first two sets and broke early for a 2-0 lead
RSS