Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen unexpectedly made it through to the second round of the OEC Taipei Ladies’ Open by beating US third seed Vania King in straight sets at the Taipei Arena yesterday.
King, whose parents are both Taiwanese, is ranked 117th in the world and has a good relationship with many of the Taiwanese players. In February, she teamed up with Hsieh Su-wei to come second in the doubles at the Pattaya Women’s Open in Thailand.
However, King seemed not to be focused during the game yesterday and Chang controlled the match from the beginning.
PHOTO: LIN CHEN-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
At 2-2 in the first set, Chang broke King’s serve three times in a row to take the set 6-2. She then took a 2-0 lead at the beginning of the second set.
Although King broke her opponents serve in the third game of the second set, Chang broker back before finally dispatching the American by taking the set 7-5.
Chang said that it was the biggest victory of her career, as King was the highest ranked player she had defeated.
King said that although it was her fourth visit to Taiwan, she had not got used to the lighting at the venue and was not aggressive enough, losing her rhythm during the match.
Meanwhile, Slovakian sixth seed Jarmila Gajdosova beat Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching 6-4, 6-2 in yesterday’s other singles match.
In the doubles, Taiwan’s Chen Yi and Italy’s Corinna Dentoni beat Chen Lu-ling and Chen Mu-ying 6-1, 6-3. Japanese second seeds Ayumi Morita and Aiko Nakamura beat Taiwan’s Ku Yun and Miao Yu-lynn 6-2, 6-1.
Today’s play will begin at 10am at the Taipei Arena, with the highlight being Taiwanese second seed Hsieh playing her doubles partner Chuang Chia-jung.
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