Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching defeated her elder sister, Chan Yung-jan, to claim the Malaysian Open doubles title in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Timea Babos of Hungary got the better of Chan Yung-jan and her partner Zheng Saisai of China 6-3, 6-4 in a 1 hour, 10 minute rain-delayed final at the Royal Selangor Golf Club.
The No. 1 seeds saved six of the nine break-point chances they faced, while converting five of eight to claim the title. The rain delay lasted for 71 minutes.
It was Babos’ first doubles title since her victory in Sydney, Australia, with Lucie Safarova in January, while it was Chan Hao-ching’s third career WTA Tour doubles title.
Yesterday’s victory was the second time Chan Hao-ching had gotten the better of her elder sister following her victory in the mixed doubles gold-medal match at last year’s East Asian Games.
Chan Yung-jan would have been the first player to win a second Malaysian Open title after she won the doubles with Zheng Jie of China in 2010.
Despite playing together for the first time on the WTA Tour, Chan Yung-jan, who has won 10 titles with various partners, and Zheng Saisai played like an experienced pair in Malaysia.
“We have been friends for a long time, when we meet we talk a lot about the doubles game. It is not a problem as we are both doubles players,” 25-year-old Chan Yung-jan told the tournament Web site on Saturday following the duo’s semi-final victory.
The champions earned US$12,300 and 280 WTA Tour ranking points, while Zheng Saisai and Chan Yung-jan received US$6,400.
In the rain-delayed final of the singles yesterday, top seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia and Croatian No. 7 seed Donna Vekic were locked at 7-5, 5-7 as at press time.
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