Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan reached the final of the women’s doubles at the Aegon International in Eastbourne, England, on Friday by knocking out the top seeds in the semi-finals.
The Taiwanese duo defeated Italian pairing Sara Errani and Robert Vinci 6-2, 6-3 in 57 minutes on Centre Court.
The Chan sisters saved two of five of their opponents’ break-point chances and converted six of nine of their own to complete the shock victory and set up a final against Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Italy’s Flavia Pennetta, who clinched their berth by battling past second seeds Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 6-4, 4-6, 10-8.
Photo: AFP
In the men’s singles, French top seed Richard Gasquet moved to within one win of a hat-trick of grass-court titles in Eastbourne when he defeated Denis Istomin 6-4, 6-2 to reach his third career final at the tournament.
The world No. 14, who missed almost all of the clay-court season with a back injury, is back on form as he prepares for Wimbledon with his second title match of the season.
He is to test his improving form after a spring back injury in a final with holder Feliciano Lopez of Spain, who beat Sam Querry of the US 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) with a dozen aces and one break of serve in 77 minutes.
Gasquet leads his head-to-head series with Lopez 5-0 as the pair meet on grass for the first time.
Gasquet lifted back-to-back trophies in 2005 and 2006 when the event was held in Nottingham and is keen to pick up where he left off eight years ago.
Gasquet beat Istomin for a third time in four meetings, taking just 71 minutes to go through with three aces and three breaks of the Uzbek’s serve.
Gasquet, who has won 10 titles in his career, moved into his 22nd career final and is fourth on grass.
“I played a good match today, it was important to play well because Denis is dangerous,” Gasquet said. “I tried to serve well. The key on grass is to serve and return well, I managed to do it. I’m very happy with the way I played, because it’s always difficult to play on grass. Everything can happen, so you need to be strong on every point. I can now play every day. I have no injuries, no pain. It’s important for me.”
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