Chang Kai-chen beat Chuang Chia-jung 6-2, 6-1 in an all-Taiwanese first round clash on the second day of the OEC Taipei Ladies Open at the Taipei Arena yesterday evening.
Chang’s victory was no surprise, as the No. 7 seed made light work of her wild-card opponent, a doubles specialist who doesn’t even have a singles ranking. Chang now faces a showdown with another Taiwanese, Hsieh Su-wei, who beat Kristina Mladenovic on Monday.
Two other home players lost yesterday. Fourth seed Ayumi Morita of Japan was too good for Juan Ting-fei, downing the qualifier 6-2, 6-2, while fifth seed Peng Shuai of China disposed of Hsu Wen-hsin 6-2, 7-6(4).
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Top seed Jarmila Groth had a straightforward 6-2, 6-3 workout against US qualifier Yasmin Schnack. The Aussie has yet to lose a singles match in Taipei, having won the tournament in 2008 before missing last year’s event through injury.
It was a good day for Thai players as Tamarine Tanasugarn and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn breezed through their matches earlier in the day.
No. 2 seed Tamarine had few problems in her 6-2, 6-1 victory over Liu Shaozhuo of China, showing the kind of form that saw her win the WTA tournament in Osaka last month. The veteran always looked in control, taking the world No. 459 apart with some precise shots and serving three aces to boot.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ksenia Lykina had a day to forget against Noppawan, failing to hold her serve even once as the 18-year-old Thai won 6-1, 6-1.
Next up for the 2008 ITF Junior World Champion and last year’s Wimbledon junior singles champion is promising teenager Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia, who brought Indian star Sania Mirza’s run to a premature end with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
There was one surprise yesterday as 332nd ranked Chinese player Wang Qiang thrashed sixth-seeded Australian Alicia Molik 6-2, 6-0.
Madalina Gojnea of Romania beat Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 in a hard-fought contest in the first match on court one. In the first set Diyas demonstrated that her victory over world No. 7 Jelena Jankovic in Moscow last month was no fluke, subjecting Gojnea to an impressive display of hitting. However, the resilient Romanian bounced back, pulling out some spectacular shots to send her 17-year-old opponent packing.
In yesterday’s other matches Yan Zi of China beat Han Sung-hee of South Korea 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, Japan’s Kumiko Iijima downed Indonesian Jessy Rompies 6-4, 6-2 and Zhang Ling of Hong Kong defeated Yumi Nakano of Japan 6-0, 6-3.
SWISS INDOORS
AFP, BASEL, SWITZERLAND
Roger Federer made an imposing start on his hometown stage, with the top seed advancing unhindered into the second round of the Swiss Indoors on Monday when his opponent retired with an ankle injury.
World No. 2 Federer was in total command against 48th-ranked Aleksandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine leading 6-4, 5-2 and serving for the match.
However, the youngster’s tumble on the hardcourt as he pulled level at 15-15 brought about an abrupt end after 48 minutes as Dolgopolov hurt his right ankle.
A pair of trainers were brought out to the side of the court at the St Jakobshalle, but after a few minutes of grimacing and medical analysis, it looked like season done for the challenger.
Federer quietly accepted the applause from the public at the event where he got his start in the game as a ballboy, happy to leave with nine aces and three breaks of serve.
In nine service games he allowed just four points, hammering 21 winners. While lauding Dolgopolov as a future talent — “someone we need for the future” — Federer did not hesitate to add: “I really want to win my home tournament for the fourth time. I have so many great memories from here.”
American eighth seed John Isner staged a comeback over Frenchman Michael Llodra 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 while Dutch qualifier Robin Haase put out Swiss wild card Stephane Bohli 6-4, 6-3 in the week’s first match.
VALENCIA OPEN
AP, VALENCIA, SPAIN
Spain’s Fernando Verdasco delighted the home crowd at the Valencia Open with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Michael Russell in the first round.
Verdasco, who won the tournament in 2004 when it was played on clay, broke the US qualifier five times on the hard indoor court at the City of Arts and Sciences.
The third-seeded Spaniard snapped a four-match losing streak and got his bid to qualify for the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals back on track in the process.
Verdasco will play Giles Simon next after the Frenchman got past Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 6-3.
Stanislas Wawrinka came through a tough match with Andreas Seppi, winning 7-6 (2), 7-5 to join Verdasco in the second round, while Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia also progressed with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Arnaud Clement.
Clement hit 20 unforced errors in the first set alone to trail before Gabashvili broke early in the second. The sluggish Frenchman couldn’t answer Gabashvili’s backhand and was broken again in the seventh game.
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
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France head coach Fabien Galthie on Thursday lauded his team’s attacking performance after their dazzling 36-14 victory over Ireland in their Six Nations opener. A brace of tries from Louis Bielley-Biarrey and one from mercurial flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert helped France storm into a 29-0 lead before taking their foot off the gas and allowing Ireland back into the match, before winger Theo Attissogbe put some gloss on the victory late on. “In an attacking sense, with the ball, the team played with great accuracy,” Galthie said. “It was one of the most accurate attacking performances in a long time, despite the weather
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