Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Paul Hanley of Australia earned a thrilling 7-6 (11), 7-6 (5) victory over defending champions Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Leander Paes of India in the second round of the mixed doubles at the Australian Open yesterday.
The unseeded duo beat the experienced No. 4 seeds in an hour and 54 minutes in a contest in which Black and Paes only managed to convert one of 12 break-point -opportunities. This proved decisive as there was little else to separate the duos in a hard-fought match.
The magnitude of the victory can be gauged from the fact that Black has five Grand Slam mixed doubles titles under her belt, three of which were won with her Indian partner.
The London-based Zimbabwean also has five women’s doubles titles, while Paes has six mixed doubles titles in all, as well as six men’s doubles titles.
In contrast, Hanley and Chan have yet to win a Grand Slam title between them, although Chan did reach the final of the women’s doubles in Melbourne with compatriot Chuang Chia-jung in 2007 and partnered China’s Sun Sheng-nan to victory at the 2004 Australian Open Junior Championships.
Taiwan is guaranteed to have a player in the semi-finals as Chan — originally from Donghsi in Taichung County but now living in Taipei — and Hanley next face Kaohsiung’s Chuang and Belgium’s Dick Norman in their next match.
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