The US Open starts today, with Taiwanese interest in the singles tournaments in New York restricted to Lu Yen-hsun in the men’s competition and Chang Kai-chen in the women’s.
Lu has been in mediocre form recently and will do well to match his best-ever showing at Flushing Meadows, a second round appearance last year.
In the five hard court tournaments he has played since his first round exit at Wimbledon, Lu reached the second round only once, beating 116th-ranked American Michael Russel in three sets in Washington at the beginning of this month before losing to world No. 6 Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in three sets.
PHOTO: AP
He did manage to defeat 134th-ranked Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky and world No. 101 Rainer Schuettler of Germany to qualify for the main draw at the Cincinnatti Masters two weeks ago, but lost to Sam Querrey of the US in straight sets in round one.
His poor form over the last few months has seen his ranking tumble to 71 from a career high of 55 in April.
Lu faces Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci in the first round in New York, who despite being ranked three places above the Taiwanese, had to make it through three qualifying rounds to earn his place in the main draw. The two met in the first round of the Australian Open in January when Lu earned a 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 victory. The winner faces a likely showdown with world No. 9 Gilles Simon of France in the second round.
Eighteen-year-old Chang outdid better-known compatriots Chan Yung-jan and Hsieh Su-wei to survive qualifying and set up a clash with 25th-ranked Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.
In qualifying, Chang — who is ranked almost 200 places below her first round opponent — accounted for Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan, Sharon Fichman of Canada and most impressively Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden, who has been ranked as high as 29.
On paper Chang would appear to have little chance against Kanepi but the Estonian’s form of late has been poor. The 24-year-old has lost in the first round of her last eight major tournaments, including the French Open and Wimbledon. Also, her preferred surface is clay rather than the hard courts of Flushing Meadows, so an upset is possible.
Chan lost to Australia’s Monique Adamczak in the final qualifying round, having beaten Nicole Vaidisova and Anna Floris, while Hsieh was beaten in straight sets by Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic in the first qualifying round.
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