Chan Yung-jan’s fairy-tale hometown run at the OEC Taipei WTA Challenger continued yesterday in the semi-finals of both the singles and the doubles at the Taipei Arena.
The Taiwanese world No. 212 upset the odds once again in her singles match against top-seeded world No. 87 Anna-Lena Friedsam, beating the German 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to grab a spot in today’s final.
Chan saved eight of the 11 break-point chances the top seed created and converted five of her six to wrap up the victory in 2 hours to the delight of the home fans.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Chan is due to face world No. 108 Vitalia Diatchenko in the final after the other semi-final also went the distance, with the sixth-seeded Russian eventually coming out on top 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 against Romanian qualifier Ana Bogdan.
Diatchenko saved seven of 13 break-point chances and converted seven of eight to grab a spot in the final in 2 hours, 16 minutes.
Chan returned to Center Court later yesterday with younger sister Hao-ching in the semi-finals of the doubles and the fairy-tale week continued as the top-seeded Taiwanese sisters routed fourth seeds Hsieh Shu-ying of Taiwan and Xu Yi-fan of China 6-2, 6-1.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Hsieh and Xu struggled to return Chan Yung-jan’s serves as the sisters saved the one break-point chance they faced and converted five of 10 to complete the victory in 58 minutes.
That set up a crowd-pleasing all Taiwanese final after Chang Kai-chen and Chuang Chia-jung defeated second seeds Ariana Rodionova of Australia and Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 5-3, 7-5 in the earlier semi-final.
The Chang-Chuang duo, who produced six aces, saved six of seven break-point chances and converted three of seven to complete the victory in 1 hour, 12 minutes.
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
The Greek basketball league finals between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos were suspended by the government on Monday following on-court scuffles involving rival security teams. The best-of-five series is at 1-1. The third game, scheduled for today, has been postponed. The owners of both clubs were summoned to meet with the country’s sports minister. They “will be asked to provide explicit guarantees that this situation will be brought to an end. If not, this year’s championship will be definitively canceled,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said. “There can be no tolerance for such pathological phenomena of violence and delinquency.” In online posts, the owners of Panathinaikos and
The Edmonton Oilers on Thursday defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3 to book their place in the Stanley Cup Finals, setting up a repeat of last year’s NHL showpiece against reigning champions the Florida Panthers. The Oilers, bidding to become the first Canadian team to win the NHL’s championship series since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens, head to Florida for Game 1 of the best-of-seven series set for Wednesday. Florida, who are to play in the NHL showpiece for the third straight season, won last year’s title 4-3 to extend Canada’s decades-long Stanley Cup drought. Connor McDavid led Edmonton back to the championship series on
RSS