Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan finally broke her Wimbledon duck on Monday, winning her first singles match in four tries after seemingly being cursed by draws that put her up against top-10 stars Maria Sharapova (2007), Dinara Safina (2008) and Marion Bartoli (last year) in previous first rounds.
Chan reached the second round for the first time, where she will play Russian 12th seed Nadia Petrova, after a convincing 6-0, 6-2 win over Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder.
It was only her third victory in 16 singles matches in Grand Slam events.
Chan was entranced by the television pictures of the tournament as a youngster, saying the likes of German icon Steffi Graf helped feed her ambition to play at the All England Club.
And the 20-year-old, who had fallen at the first hurdle at this championship four times, says her game will only improve when she meets Petrova.
“I was inspired by Jana Novotna and Steffi Graf,” Chan said after her victory. “I was very, very young and when I was watching I would point to the television and say ‘I am going to play on that court.’”
“You never know how far you can go but the most difficult thing is the first round. That is the hardest mentally. I will play better in the second round,” she said.
The No. 1 Taiwanese female player converted five break points out of seven and saved three break points on her own serve en route to a comfortable win over her Swiss opponent on Monday.
She expressed her admiration for another Swiss player, Roger Federer, the six-time Wimbledon champion who came back after being two sets down to defeat Alejandro Falla on Monday.
“Watching Federer playing is a pleasure. He is truly a king on the court,” she said.
Chan also praised Federer for his ability to balance his career and family while also treating the fans well, saying that he signs autographs patiently for each of his fans.
“He is a role model to look up to, whether on or off court,” she said.
This is the first time Chan has progressed into the second round of a Grand Slam tournament this year after early exits in Australia and France.
BOUNCE BACK: Curry scored 46 points in the Warriors’ victory over the Spurs, after ‘everybody stepped up’ following Tuesday’s blowout loss to Oklahoma City Nikola Jokic scoring 50 or more points had never been enough for the Denver Nuggets to win — until now. Jokic on Wednesday night tied the highest-scoring performance in the NBA this season with 55 points, as the Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 130-116 for their sixth straight victory. The Nuggets were 0-4 in his previous 50-point outbursts. “It’s a good feeling,” the three-time NBA Most Valuable Player said. He equaled Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 55 in a double-overtime game at the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 23. Jokic has been on a roll during Denver’s winning streak. He is the
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
The tri-nation Twenty20 international series featuring hosts Pakistan, as well as Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, is to be played entirely in Rawalpindi from Tuesday next week, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said yesterday, after this week’s suicide bombing in the capital, Islamabad. The change came after at least eight Sri Lankan players asked to leave over security fears following Tuesday’s bombing that killed 12 people and wounded 27. Their country’s cricket board issued a stern directive to the team to stay put or face consequences. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said the decision to stay was taken after “close consultations” with hosts Pakistan who
LIKE FINE WINE: Thirty-eight-year-old Djokovic won his 101st title of his career in Athens, becoming the oldest tournament winner since Ken Roswell, 44, in 1977 Elena Rybakina on Saturday clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy. Having gone 3-0 in round-robin play, Rybakina earned a record US$5.235 million and would finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world. “It’s been an incredible week, I honestly didn’t expect any result, and to go so far,
RSS