Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung advanced to the finals of the Zhonghong Jiangxi International Women’s Open doubles yesterday, while fellow Taiwanese Chan Chin-wei rallied from a set down in her quarter-final to keep alive the prospect of a Taiwanese showdown in tomorrow’s final.
Chuang and her partner, Junri Namigata of Japan, edged Ilona Kremen of Belarus and Thailand’s Noppawan Lertcheewakarn 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 as all of yesterday’s matches in Nanchang, China, were once again moved to the indoor courts due to bad weather.
Chuang and Namigata saved six of seven break-point chances and converted two of nine to claim the victory in 1 hour, 38 minutes.
Chan and her partner, Xu Yi-fan of China, looked to be in deep trouble in their quarter-final after they conceded the first set to Chinese duo Liang Chen and Zhu Lin.
However, the No. 3 seeds rallied and got stronger as the match went on, eventually pulling off a 4-6, 6-1, 10-0 victory in 1 hour, 11 minutes.
Chan and Xu saved six of eight break-point chances and converted three of 10 to set up a semi-final against Monique Adamczak of Australia and China’s Zheng Saisai or Thai pairing Luksika Kumkhum and Tamarine Tanasugarn, who were due to play their match later yesterday.
In the quarter-finals of the singles, sixth seed Zheng defeated No. 3 seed Misaki Doi of Japan 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).
Zheng saved five of eight break-point chances and converted two of four in 2 hours, 6 minutes to set up a semi-final with fourth seed Kumkhum, who defeated Chinese wild-card Wang Yafan 6-4, 7-5 in 1 hour, 50 minutes.
In the other quarter-finals, top seed Peng Shuai was a set up against fellow Chinese Wang Qiang as at press time, while Hong Kong’s Zhang Ling was tied at one set each with China’s Liu Fangzhou.
BAKU CUP
Second seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine continued her pursuit of the Baku Cup in Aberbaijan yesterday with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over France’s Pauline Parmentier.
Svitolina saved seven of 10 break-point chances and converted five of nine in 1 hour, 27 minutes to set up a semi-final against either France’s Kristina Mladenovic or world No. 75 and former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone.
Schiavone was a set up as at press time.
Fifth seed Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia continued her winning streak in Baku, but she had to rally from a set down to defeat Japanese qualifier Misa Eguchi 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in 2 hours 12 minutes.
Jovanovski next faces Swiss world No. 72 Stefanie Voegele in the other semi-final, after the conqueror of top seed Sorana Cirstea on Thursday defeated Israel’s Shahar Peer 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in another quarter-final to went to three sets and lasted more than two hours.
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