Taiwan’s tennis players had a mixed performance yesterday at the Guangzhou International Women’s Open in China, as all those in the singles category were eliminated, while those in the doubles competition fared slightly better. Meanwhile, all the top-seeded players advanced to the next round.
Chan Yung-jan went down in defeat to Poland’s Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 2-6, 2-6, while seventh seed Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa beat unseeded Hsieh Su-wei 3-6, 7-6 (7/1), 6-1.
Top seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia easily handled Iryna Bremond of France 6-3, 6-1 and Australia’s No. 2 seed Jarmila Gajdosova defeated Mandy Minella of Luxembourg 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
In doubles play, Chan and fellow Taiwanese Chan Hao-ching won 6-3, 7-6 (7/1) in their quarter-final match against Gajdosova and Anastasia Rodionova, also of Australia. The two Chans, who are the top seeds, will face the third-seeded pair of Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei and Han Xinyun of China, who last night defeated Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan and Jill Craybas of the US 7-5, 6-4.
The first-round doubles match of Bremond and Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-hsin versus Alberta Brianti of Italy and Croatia’s Petra Martic ended in victory for the European pair, who won 7-5, 7-5.
The quarter-final match featuring Hsieh and partner Zheng Saisai of China versus Indonesia’s Yayuk Basuki and Lu Jingjing was in progress as of press time.
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert. In the men’s singles, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the women’s doubles. Swiatek, one of the gold medal favorites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the