Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei won an epic three-set battle in the second round of the Tianjin Open yesterday to set up a quarter-final clash with Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic.
Hsieh battled back from a set down against fifth seed Zhang Shuai of China to complete a thrilling 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) victory in 2 hours, 31 minutes.
The Taiwanese world No. 160 saved six of 11 break-point chances and converted five of 14 to upset the odds and win the cross-strait battle with the world No. 54.
Photo: EPA
China’s Zheng Saisai also pulled off a shock when she knocked top seed Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour, 27 minutes yesterday to set up a quarter-final against Sorana Cirstea of Romania.
Second seed Peng Shuai also made the quarter-finals when she cruised past qualifier Elizavita Kulichkova of Russia 6-1, 6-2 in 1 hour, 3 minutes.
In the quarter-finals of the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei and Xu Yi-fan of China rallied to defeat Ukrainian twins Lyudmyla and Nadiia Kichenok 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 10-5.
The fourth seeds saved six of 10 break-point chances and converted three of 10 in 1 hour, 34 minutes to set up a semi-final against second seeds Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia.
It was not such a good day for Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and her partner, Olga Govortsova of Belarus, who fell to a 6-4, 6-1 defeat to third seeds Alison Riske of the US and Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia in an hour.
Riske and Tomljanovic face Cirstea and Andreja Klepac in the semi-finals after the Romanian-Slovenian pairing knocked out top seeds Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Flavia Pennetta of Italy 3-6, 7-6 (7/1), 10-6 in 1 hour 30 minutes.
JAPAN WOMEN’S OPEN
Croatia’s Ana Konjuh stunned fourth seed Coco Vandeweghe of the US in the second round of the Japan Women’s Open in Osaka yesterday, the world No. 113 completing a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over the world No. 38 in 1 hour, 56 minutes.
Konjuh faces Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals after the fifth seed swept past Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena 6-0, 6-1 in just 53 minutes.
Eighth seed Lauren Davis of the US also cruised into the quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-1 demolition of qualifier Shuko Aoyama of Japan, while top seed Samantha Stosur advanced when her opponent, fellow Australian Jarmila Gajdosova, retired when Stosur was leading 7-6 (7/4), 1-0.
GENERALI LADIES
AP, LINZ, Austria
Top seed Eugenie Bouchard overcame a slow start to beat Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria 6-4, 6-1 in the opening round of the Generali Ladies on Wednesday.
Bouchard dropped her opening service game and the Wimbledon finalist failed to shrug off her 100th-ranked opponent until 4-4. The sixth-ranked Canadian then won six straight games and smoothly closed out the win.
Bouchard and No. 7 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic are the only seeded players left in the tournament after the first round.
Second seed Ana Ivanovic pulled out injured, while No. 3 Dominika Cibulkova and No. 5 Sabine Lisicki both slipped to three-set defeats on Wednesday.
Two-time former champion Ivanovic withdrew with a hip complaint one day after receiving medical treatment during her first-round win over Pauline Parmentier of France.
“This injury has been plaguing me the whole summer and it got worse during the recent tournaments in Asia,” Ivanovic said in a statement on the tournament’s Web site. “I am sorry, but I can’t play on.”
World No. 8 Ivanovic, who won the indoor hard-court event in Austria in 2008 and 2010, and reached the final last year, has qualified for the WTA Tour Finals in Singapore.
Her withdrawal advanced Madison Brengle of the US to her first career WTA Tour quarter-final.
Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany rallied to defeat Cibulkova 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
World No. 94 Friedsam missed two match points while serving at 5-2, but converted the fourth chance in her next service game.
Karin Knapp of Italy beat Lisicki 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (7/1) after failing to serve out the match at 5-3 in the final set.
In second-round play, Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland advanced to her fourth quarter-final of the season by rallying to defeat Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Camila Giorgi of Italy saved 10 of 11 break points while beating Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 6-3, 6-2 to set up a quarter-final against Marina Erakovic of New Zealand, who routed Klara Koukalova of Czech Republic 6-0, 6-2.
Erakovic had six aces to reach her first quarter-final since reaching the semi-finals in Washington in July.
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