The Chan sisters yesterday cruised into the third round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the second rounds of the women’s and mixed doubles at the first Grand Slam of the year.
Seventh seeds Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan took just 62 minutes to see off the challenge of Kaitlyn Christian of the US and Alexa Guarachi of Chile 6-4, 6-2 on Court 15 at Melbourne Park.
The Chan sisters won 79 percent of points on their second serve, converted five of seven break points and hit 13 winners.
Photo: AFP
Top seeds Hsieh and Barbora Strycova had a tougher time against first-round opponents Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic and Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia on Court 13, before running out 6-3, 7-5 winners in 1 hour, 35 minutes.
The reigning Wimbledon champions mixed 25 winners with eight unforced errors, converting six of 13 break points.
The Taiwanese and Czech are due to face Lauren Davis of the US and Viktorija Golkubic of Switzerland in the second round today.
Hsieh also later advanced to the second round of the mixed doubles when the Taiwanese and Neal Skupski of Britain battled to a 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 10-5 victory over Desirae Krawczyk of the US and Joe Salisbury of Britain in 1 hour, 43 minutes on Court 8.
The eighth seeds hit 25 winners and converted the only break point they created to win the tight first-round encounter.
In the women’s singles, Coco Gauff continued her dream run when the 15-year-old knocked out defending champion Naomi Osaka 6-3, 6-4 in a stunning upset to reach the fourth round.
Osaka was the third former women’s champion to bow out at Melbourne Park after her immediate predecessors, Caroline Wozniacki and Serena Williams, lost their respective matches earlier in the day.
“Honestly, what is my life like? Two years ago, I lost in the first round of juniors and now I’m here, this is crazy,” Gauff told the crowd on Rod Laver Arena.
Gauff had lost to Osaka 6-3, 6-0 at the US Open last year, but easily avoided a repeat as a string of backhand errors off the Japanese third seed’s racket gave the teenager the break midway through the opening set.
The pattern repeated itself in the second set, as a lackluster Osaka continued to misfire and Gauff served out the victory after just 67 minutes.
She let out a huge roar in the direction of the players’ box, before heading to the net to receive the congratulations of the vanquished champion, who not so long ago was hailed as the future of women’s tennis.
That title might soon sit on Gauff’s shoulders, but tennis is not the only thing on the teenager’s mind with her remote schooling continuing throughout her travels.
“My teachers are giving me some time, given the circumstances,” she said. “I’m allowed to put in some assignments late, which is nice.”
Earlier, Wozniacki and Williams were both left in tears after the Dane’s glittering career ended in a third-round defeat.
The former world No.1, who last month announced that the Australian Open would be her final tournament, lost 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 to Ons Jabeur of Tunisia.
The unseeded 29-year-old brought the curtain down on a career that saw her win 30 WTA Tour titles, with her sole Grand Slam triumph coming in 2018 at Melbourne Park.
She was in tears when the end came at the hands of world No. 78th Jabeur and just under two hours later, her eyes were still red and puffy as she arrived at her post-match news conference.
“I was told there are tissues here. I see the tissues in case I need them, I think I’m cried out,” said Wozniacki, who was given a round of applause by reporters.
She was also given a generous reception by the Melbourne Arena crowd after hitting her last shot in tennis.
“I finished my career with a forehand error. Those are the things I’ve been working on my whole career,” she told the crowd.
Choking back tears, Wozniacki added: “Guess this is just how it was meant to be.”
The defeat for Wozniacki, minutes before Williams’ shock 6-4, 6-7 (2/7), 7-5 loss to Wang Qiang of China, deprived the close friends of an emotional meeting in the fourth round.
Williams also cried when asked about Wozniacki’s retirement.
“She came into the locker room afterwards, we were both kind of bummed about our matches,” the 38-year-old said.
It was then that Williams, who was a bridesmaid at Wozniacki’s wedding, began welling up, too.
“She’s had an amazing career. Oh my God, I’m getting emotional. Oh my,” Williams said. “God, I’m going to miss her. Guys, I can’t answer Caroline questions, I’m going to be crying. She’s one of my best friends in the world.”
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