Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei survived a tough three-set battle to advance to the second round of the Taiwan Open in Kaohsiung yesterday, but fellow Fed Cup star Chang Kai-chen came up short in her first-round singles match.
Sixth seed Hsieh, a member of Taiwan’s promotion-winning Fed Cup team that defeated Japan 2-1 in their Asia/Oceania Group I clash in Thailand on Saturday, was pushed all the way by Ayaka Okuno of Japan, with the Taiwanese No. 1 completing a 7-6 (7/1), 4-6, 6-2 victory in 2 hours, 12 minutes on Center Court at the Yang-Ming Tennis Center.
The Taiwanese world No. 81 saved four of 12 break points and converted nine of 20, winning 106 of the 203 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with world No. 173 Mandy Minella of Luxembourg, who ousted another Japanese, Naomi Osaka, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) in 74 minutes.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
Hsieh’s Fed Cup teammate world No. 155 Chang Kai-chen cruised through her opening set against Stefanie Voegele and looked to be headed for her second career victory against the world No. 117, but the Swiss player fought back to complete a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in 2 hours, 25 minutes on Center Court.
Chang won their only previous encounter in Sydney, Australia, in 2010, but it was Voegele who advanced to a second-round encounter with fifth seed Zheng Saisai, after the Chinese world No. 70 defeated Spanish qualifier Laura Pous-Tio 6-2, 7-5 in 1 hour, 33 minutes.
The other Taiwanese casualty in the singles yesterday was wild-card Lee Ya-hsuan, who won the first set against Russia’s Elizaveta Kulichkova, but eventually fell to a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat in 2 hours, 11 minutes.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
Alison Riske of the US became the first seed to fall at the tournament when the American No. 8 was ousted 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 by Donna Vekic of Croatia.
Also advancing yesterday were third seed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, who defeated lucky loser Marina Melnikova of Russia 6-2, 6-3; fellow Kazakh and fourth seed Zarina Diyas, who fought back from a set down to beat Ukrainian qualifier Lyudmyla Kichenok 5-7, 6-1, 6-2; and seventh seed Kurumi Nara of Japan, who ousted China’s Wang Qiang 6-1, 6-3.
Top seed Venus Williams is scheduled to begin her singles campaign this afternoon on Center Court against Taiwanese wild-card Lee Pei-chi.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
In the doubles, fourth seeds Shuko Aoyama of Japan and Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei fell to a shock 7-5, 3-6, 11-9 defeat to Taiwanese duo Hsu Ching-wen and Lee Ya-hsuan, who are scheduled to face Kristyna Pliskova and Voegele in the quarter-finals at 2pm today after the Czech-Swiss pairing beat Junri Namigata of Japan and Emily Webley-Smith of Britain 6-4, 3-6, 13-11.
Taiwanese wild-cards Chien Pei-ju and Lee Pei-chi were ousted by Japanese duo Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato, who raced to a 6-1, 6-3 victory in just 51 minutes.
Top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan begin their campaign against Diyas and Xu Yi-fan of China on Center Court today, followed by fellow Taiwanese Chang and Chuang Chia-jung, who are due to take on Chinese second seeds Liang Chen and Wang Yafan.
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