Taiwanese tennis player Chan Yung-jan received a rankings boost yesterday, offering some consolation after her defeat in the mixed doubles final at the Australian Open on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Chan is now ranked No. 112 in singles — up from her previous ranking of 119 — and No. 15 in doubles, up from No. 18, according to the latest rankings from the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).
Chan is now the top-ranked female Taiwanese player in singles and doubles.
Photo: Yao Chieh-hsiu, Taipei Times
Chuang Chia-jung rose from No. 29 to No. 26 in the women’s doubles rankings following impressive runs in the women’s and mixed doubles at the Australian Open, while Hsieh Shu-wei rose from 46 to 41.
Chang Kai-chen, however, saw her women’s singles ranking fall from 117 to 119 following her first round exit in Melbourne.
Upon her return home from Australia yesterday, Chan said at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport that the experience of playing in the mixed doubles final had boosted her confidence.
She also dismissed media reports that her Australian partner, Paul Hanley, had not played to his normal standard.
Chan and Hanley lost to Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Daniel Nestor of Canada in the final.
It was the third time Chan has ended up as a losing finalist in a Grand Slam event following defeats in the women’s doubles finals at the Australian and French Opens in 2007, when Chuang was her partner.
It will be only the second time in the last eight years that Chan has been able to spend the Lunar New Year holiday in Taiwan and she said she was looking forward to spending time with her family and doing some cooking.
“She cooks well, but we get lumbered with cleaning up after her,” her mother Liu Hsieh-chen joked.
SA TENNIS OPEN
BY TONY PHILLIPS
STAFF WRITER
Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun and Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia enjoyed a straightforward 6-3, 6-0 victory over French duo Adrian Mannarino and Florent Serra in the first round of the doubles at the SA Tennis Open in Johannesburg yesterday.
Lu and Tipsarevic, losing finalists at last year’s Chennai Open, did not face a break point as they raced to victory in only 49 minutes.
Lu has been drawn to play Milos Raonic of Canada in the first round of the singles at the US$500,000 ATP World Tour event.
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