Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan (詹詠然) and Martina Hingis lifted a second consecutive title and their third of the season at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome yesterday.
The second seeds took two minutes short of two hours to see off the challenge of top-seeded Russian duo Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) on the clay courts at the Foro Italico in the Italian capital.
The Taiwanese-Swiss pairing saved five of eight break points and converted four of nine to edge the reigning Olympic champions and add the Internazionali BNL d’Italia trophy to the Mutua Madrid Open title they captured the previous weekend in Spain.
Photo courtesy of Chan Yung-jan
It was their third title of the year after they claimed the BNP Paribas Open crown in Indian Wells, California, in March.
It was Hingis’ 101st career title, the 58th in the doubles, while Chan increased her doubles title count to 21 and four this year after she retained the Taiwan Open title with younger sister Chan Hao-ching in Taipei in February.
Chan and Hingis will go to their first Grand Slam as a pairing in top form when the French Open begins on Monday next week.
In the women’s singles final, Elina Svitolina of Ukraine rallied from a set down to defeat Simona Halep of Romania 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in 2 hours, 7 minutes.
It was Svitolina’s fourth singles title of the season after victories in Taipei, Dubai and Istanbul.
The victory moves the Ukrainian into the top 10 of the latest WTA Tour singles rankings today.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
RSS