Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun added another record to his tennis career by defeating a US-French pair together with his Serbian partner Janko Tipsarevic to advance to the second round of the men’s doubles at Wimbledon on Thursday.
Lu and Tipsarevic beat James Cerretani of the US and Jeremy Cardy of France 6-4, 6-4, 7-6.
After achieving a career-high by reaching the third round of the male singles at the Grand Slam for the first time, 27-year-old Lu, Taiwan’s highest-ranked male tennis player, compounded his success in the doubles competition.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Lu told Central News Agency that it was the first time he had teamed up with Tipsarevic at Wimbledon, although the two did play together at the Australian Open in January, but failed to get through the first round.
Lu said he was very satisfied with their performance on Thursday.
“Except for the third set, we controlled almost the whole game,” he said.
“We bolstered each other on court,” Lu said, adding that he did not feel great stress while playing. “We both concentrated on playing and did not spent much thought on winning or losing.”
Lu is scheduled to play against the unseeded, but dangerous Florian Mayor of Germany in the third round of the men’s singles. He said the doubles match had helped him stay in fighting form.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles, Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen lost 4-6, 3-6 to third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the second round on Centre Court.
It was Chang’s first time playing at Wimbledon and despite her defeat the 19-year-old said she was satisfied with her performance.
“I enjoyed the feeling of playing on Centre Court. I lost, but I am astonished how well I performed today,” she said.
Playing on Centre Court was “a good chance to learn and is something I’ll never forget,” she said.
In the women’s doubles on Thursday it was a mixed day for the Taiwanese. Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and her partner Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia, the 16th seeds, defeated Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands and Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-3, 6-2. However, Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan and Kristina Barrois of Germany defeated Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and partner Zheng Jie of China 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
Taiwan’s Hsieh and her partner Kudryavtseva continued their progress yesterday with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Kaia Kanepi of Estonia and China’s Shuai Zhang.
In men’s singles yesterday, a day after winning the longest tennis match ever, John Isner lost in about 75 minutes.
The marathon man looked weary from the outset, required treatment for a neck injury and was beaten by unseeded Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands 6-0, 6-3, 6-2.
Isner had no aces after hitting a record 112 in his epic three-day victory over Nicolas Mahut.
“The turnaround time — he just didn’t have enough time to get his body right,” said Isner’s coach, Craig Boynton. “He’s one tired boy.”
Starting shortly after noon in warm sunshine, Isner received a standing ovation when he walked onto court. He immediately lost his serve — something that didn’t happen once in his 70-68 fifth set against Mahut.
Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, two Belgians making Wimbledon comebacks, beat Russians to set up a fourth-round showdown on Monday.
No. 8 Clijsters beat No. 27 Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-3. Henin, seeded 17th, defeated No. 12 Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-4.
No. 4 seed Jelena Jankovic beat No. 28 Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-0, 6-3, while No. 11 Marion Bartoli defeated Greta Arn of Hungary 6-3, 6-4.
Isner didn’t warm up before taking to the court and showed up unshaven. He dropped the first set in 16 minutes.
After the set, he took an injury timeout and received a neck massage from a trainer. Boynton said Isner’s neck began to stiffen after the Mahut match.
After the loss, Isner pulled out of the men’s doubles before his first-round match with fellow American Sam Querrey, citing a toe injury.
“Your body’s like: ‘Hey, what are you doing to me here?’” Boynton said.
The crowd roared when Isner finally won a game after 32 minutes to trail 2-1 in the second set. His shots began to show more zip, but his movement remained sluggish.
“I wouldn’t have bet a lot of money on him today, but he did his best,” Isner’s mother, Karen, said.
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