Top seeds Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Peng Shuai of China battled through to the French Open semi-finals in Paris yesterday after a tough 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over fifth seeds Cara Black of Zimbabwe and India’s Sania Mirza.
WTA world No. 2 doubles player Hsieh and No. 1 Peng converted five of 14 break-point chances on their way to victory in two hours on Roland Garros’ Court 1. It was their second triumph over Black and Mirza this season following the doubles final of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in March.
Hsieh and Peng next face either fourth seeds Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia, or Spanish duo Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro in the semis.
Photo: AFP
Also advancing to the semis yesterday were four-time Grand Slam champions Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, who cruised past seventh-seeded Australian pair Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua 6-0, 6-1 in just 47 minutes on Court 1.
The second-seeded Italian duo also beat the Australians in the final of last year’s Australian Open.
On Monday, Peschke and Srebotnik converted five of seven break-point opportunities in their 6-3, 6-1 win over Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi and Alexandra Panova of Russia.
Photo: AFP
Muguruza and Suarez Navarro, who were also both still in the singles quarter-finals in the same half of the draw, beat Peschke and Srebotnik in the second round in Madrid last month.
Also advancing were 16th seeds Marina Erakovic of New Zealand and Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain, who won 6-2, 6-3 against French duo Julie Coin and Pauline Parmentier.
On the men’s side, concerns that Rafael Nadal’s reign as king of Roland Garros might be at risk due to back problems proved unfounded as the world No. 1 led a Spanish charge into the quarters on Monday.
Photo: EPA
On the day that Spanish King Juan Carlos I abdicated his throne, there was no danger of his compatriot doing the same in Paris as the eight-time champion routed Serbian Dusan Lajovic 6-1, 6-2, 6-1.
Next up for Nadal will be the man who beat him the last time they faced each other across a net: fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.
Ferrer earlier ended Kevin Anderson’s bid to be the first South African man in 47 years to reach the last eight of the clay-court major with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1 win.
Photo: AFP
The top half of the men’s draw could have been an all-Spanish affair if Wimbledon champion Andy Murray and Frenchman Gael Monfils had not been such spoilsports.
Seventh seed Murray and Spain’s Fernando Verdasco walked out under sunny skies looking like clones, both kitted out in near identical canary-yellow shirts and black shorts.
The similarities continued as both turned the air blue in a heated third set, but it was Murray who made the difference, stinging Verdasco with vicious winners for a 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (3) triumph.
Photo: AFP
Monfils kept the home fires burning with a 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 win over another Spaniard, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, but no one feels more at home at Roland Garros than Nadal.
The top seed, who said he had to slow his serve in his last match due to back pain, left Lajovic reeling as he went on a rampage to go 5-0 up in the first set before rattling off 17 straight points in the second.
The winners flying off Nadal’s racket seemed to leave everyone in such a trance that the umpire fluffed his lines at one stage, telling the players “to replay the point” in English before sheepishly repeating the instruction in French to draw a rare smile from Lajovic.
With enigmatic US singer Prince watching, it did not take 83rd-ranked Lajovic too long to discover why Nadal is one of the hardest nuts to crack at Roland Garros.
On the eve of his 28th birthday, a screaming forehand winner allowed Nadal to take his formidable French Open win-loss record to 63-1 and leave him just three wins away from another Musketeers’ Cup.
The result enabled Nadal to cross a major psychological hurdle as the last time he was going for five in a row in the French capital, he was beaten in the fourth round. Another encouraging sign for Nadal was that his serve has picked up speed and there was no sign of back pain.
While three of the world’s top five men are still alive, Romanian Simona Halep was the only seed among the top six women to reach the last eight with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Sloane Stephens of the US. She next faces 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
German Andrea Petkovi reached a Grand Slam quarters for the first time in three years with a 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens. She next faces 2012 runner-up Sara Errani of Italy, who continued the cull of top-10 players with a 7-6 (5), 6-2 win over Serbian sixth seed Jelena Jankovic.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS