Taiwan’s tennis stars set up an all-Taiwanese final in the Asian Games women’s doubles yesterday in Guangzhou.
Both matches were close affairs, each of them going to a super tiebreak to decide who would battle it out for the gold medal this morning.
Chang Kai-chen and Hsieh Su-wei rallied from a set down to defeat Peng Shuai and Yan Zi of China 5-7, 6-0, 1-0 in the first semi-final.
PHOTO: AFP
Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung followed up their success, beating Kim So-jung and Lee Jin-a of South Korea 6-1, 3-6, 1-0.
There was good news in the mixed doubles as well, with Chan Yung-jan and Yang Tsung-hua beating Hiroki Kondo and Yurika Sema of Japan 6-3, 6-3 in their semi-final.
They will face India’s Sania Mirza and Vishnu Vardhan in this afternoon’s final after they overcame Tamarine Tanasugarn and Sanchai Ratiwatana of Thailand 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 1-0 in another match that required a super tiebreak.
In the men’s doubles, Taiwan’s Yi Chu-huan and Lee Hsin-han picked up a bronze medal when they lost their semi-final 6-4, 7-6 to China’s Gong Maoxin and Li Zhe.
In the women’s singles, China’s Peng shattered 40-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm’s dream of a second Asian Games title to keep her gold medal bid on course.
Peng clinched a 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 6-2 win over the veteran Japanese, who won her first singles gold at the Hiroshima Asian Games in 1994, and she now faces Uzbekistan’s Akgul Amanmuradova, who put out India’s golden girl Mirza.
Defending men’s champion Danai Udomchoke was knocked out in the quarter-finals, losing to Japan’s Tatsuma Ito 6-4, 6-1.
Ito next faces India’s Somdev Devverman, who defeated China’s Zhang Ze 6-4, 6-4.
Top seed Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan reached the semi-finals after a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 win over Karan Rastogi, with the vanquished Indian praising his opponent’s sportsmanship.
Istomin would have won if he had accepted the chair umpire’s judgment that a Rastogi forehand was out on match-point, but the Uzbek called the ball good.
“Not many people on the tour would do that,” said Rastogi, the world No. 332. “I have known him for a while and for him to call the ball good on match-point showed that he’s an incredible champion.”
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