It was a mixed day for Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen at the Guangzhou Open in China yesterday.
Chang came up against Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand in the final round of qualifying for the singles tournament yesterday morning on Court 1 and was knocked out, with the Thai winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 to advance to the first round.
Chang returned on Court 2 in the afternoon with her doubles partner Shuko Aoyama of Japan to advance to the second round by beating Russians Nina Bratchikova and Alla Kudryavtseva 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 10-1.
The Chan sisters, Hao-ching and Yung-jan, the No. 2 seeds, also made it a mixed day for Taiwanese players when they defeated Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei and Sun Sheng-nan of China 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in the final match on Center Court.
Earlier, defending singles champion Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Chinese wild-card Wang Qiang.
The 27-year-old Scheepers, who last year became the first South African woman in eight years to win a WTA title, needed 72 minutes to dispose of her opponent and set up a second-round meeting with 58th-ranked Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia.
Jovanovski also had an easy first-round win, beating Timea Babos of Hungary 6-1, 6-3.
Mandy Minella of Luxembourg had a tougher time in defeating Pauline Parmentier of France 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 on Court 3.
Britain’s Laura Robson advanced when Spain’s Maria-Teresa Toro-Flor retired injured when the Briton was leading 6-2, 3-1.
BELL CHALLENGE
AFP, QUEBEC
Kirsten Flipkens made the most of her first WTA finals opportunity, capping a dream week at the Bell Challenge with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over eighth-seeded Lucie Hradecka in Sunday’s final.
Both finalists were seeking a first career WTA title. Hradecka had come up short in four prior finals, while Flipkens, 26, had never before reached a championship match.
It did not look that way on Sunday as she dispatched Hradecka of the Czech Republic in 69 minutes.
Her triumph punctuated a week that included the first-round upset of top-seeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova and a semi-final win over third-seeded German Mona Barthel.
Flipkens’ previous best WTA showings were four trips to the semi-finals, most recently at ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, this year.
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