Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan enjoyed a day to remember yesterday as she triumphed in the singles and doubles tournaments at the OEC Taipei Ladies Open at the Taipei Arena.
After only winning three doubles titles this year, Chan added two new titles in one afternoon. Her win in the doubles with Chuang Chia-jung marked the perfect return for the duo after the pair ended their highly successful partnership last year.
Chan’s victory in the singles against top seed Ayumi Morita was a topsy-turvy contest that the 20-year-old from Taichung County won 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES
She started the match impressively, breaking her Japanese opponent’s serve in the second game when Morita put a simple overhead wide.
After Chan took the next game, there was a lengthy break as the tournament physio attended to a problem Morita was having with her left foot.
The Japanese showed no ill-effects as she held her serve in the next game and then gave the No. 4 seed a fright in the seventh game, forcing Chan to save a break point.
Chan served for the set at 5-2 but Morita showed some of the impressive form she had displayed all week to break back as Chan put a straightforward half-volley into the net after a tense rally.
It was to be a brief respite for the Japanese, however, as she found herself facing three set points in the very next game. On the second, the world No. 78 hit a return long that caused her to drop a set for the first time at this year’s tournament.
After a confident display in the opening set, Chan started to flounder in the second as she dropped her serve in a hard-fought first game.
The crowd favorite canceled out the break in game four but immediately dropped her serve again to leave her opponent 3-2 up.
It was Morita all the way for the rest of the set as Chan’s displays of frustration increased in proportion to the number of errors she made while failing to win another game in the set.
There was a lengthy break before the start of the final set as Chan disappeared and re-emerged in a new top and, as it transpired, with her confidence suddenly restored.
The Taiwanese came out aggressively, pummeling shots and even sending down some aces. The third set’s fourth game proved to be a turning point, one in which Chan had the bit of luck that was probably necessary to separate two players in such a competitive encounter.
Twice during one rally Chan appeared to hit the ball long but play continued and the Taiwanese claimed the point. Morita expressed her displeasure to the umpire and may have been rattled as she went on to drop her serve and find herself 1-3 down.
Then, disastrously for her, she dropped her serve again to go 1-5 down.
Chan has tended not to do things the easy way in her recent matches, and sure enough a double fault handed Morita the seventh game as the Taiwanese tried to serve out the match.
The tension continued as Morita came back brilliantly to claim the next four points after being 0-40 down in the subsequent game. Chan wasn’t to be denied though and Morita’s brave resistance finally came to an end when she hit a return long, leaving Chan to acknowledge the cheers of the delighted crowd.
There wasn’t much time for Chan to savor her victory though, as the doubles final soon after saw her team up with Chuang to take on Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia and Riza Zalameda of the US.
Chan was soon brought back to Earth as her serve was broken in the first game but the Taiwanese pair broke back immediately. Basuki dropped her serve in the fourth game, a failure that proved crucial as the rest of the games went with serve and Chan and Chuang took the set 6-3.
The unseeded Zalameda and Basuki then showed why they had emerged as the surprise package of the doubles tournament, bouncing back to take the second set by the same score.
The title came down to the final set where the scoring system changed to leave the first pair to reach 10 points the victors, so long as they were two points clear of their opponents.
The first nine points went with serve before Chuang launched into a stinging forehand return on Basuki’s serve that Zalameda could only volley into the net.
The point proved decisive as there were no more breaks before a great volley by Chuang claimed the contest 10-7.
■BALI
REUTERS, BALI, INDONESIA
Aravane Rezai won the Tournament of Champions in Bali yesterday when top seed Marion Bartoli retired with a quad injury after losing the first set 7-5.
The win gave Rezai the second title of her career following success at Strasbourg in May and lifted her into the world’s top 30 for the first time.
“It’s a big surprise to finish like that — I’m very sorry for her,” said Rezai, who earned US$200,000.
Bartoli had broken her fellow Frenchwoman to lead 3-2, but failed to serve out the set at 5-4 and was unable to convert a break point on Rezai’s serve at 5-5.
Tenth seed Rezai held for 6-5 and then struck a backhand winner to end a long rally to earn two set points. Bartoli then walked to the chair wincing in pain and after having her left thigh taped up she immediately double-faulted to lose the set before throwing in the towel.
Bartoli had been bidding for her third title of the year.
■FLEA MARKET CUP
STAFF WRITER
Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun won the Flea Market Cup Chuncheon 2009, a Challenger Tour ATP Tournament, in Chuncheon, South Korea, yesterday. Lu defeated Dutchman Igor Sijsling 6-2, 6-3 in the final.
Lu earned US$14,400 and another 100 points on the ATP ranking, securing a spot in the top 100 ATP players when they are announced next week.
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