Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Zheng Jie of China cruised into the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open yesterday.
The cross-strait duo defeated Klaudia Jans-Ignacik of Poland and Andreja Klepac of Slovenia 6-1, 6-2 in just 1 hour, 6 minutes in their quarter-final at Melbourne Park’s Margaret Court Arena.
The 14th seeds converted six of 11 break-point opportunities and hit 24 winners compared with their opponents’ 11 to set up a semi-final against 13th seeds Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic today.
Photo: EPA
Krajicek and Zahlavova Strycova rallied from losing the first set to upset fifth-seeded US duo Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) in their quarter-final.
Taipei native Chan, who began playing at the age of six, has 11 WTA Tour doubles titles, but her last appearance in a Grand Slam semi-final was at the 2010 US Open when she and Zheng lost 6-3, 6-2 to second seeds Liezel Huber of the US and Nadia Petrova of Russia.
Chan last made an appearance in a Grand Slam women’s doubles final back in 2007, when she and fellow Taiwanese Chuang Chia-jung fell to a 6-4, 6-2 defeat to France’s Nathalie Dechy and Dinara Safina of Russia.
Photo: AFP
“Semi-final! Was really nice to play at Margaret Court Arena and to WIN!” Chan posted on Facebook yesterday.
In today’s other semi-final, 16th-seeded German duo Julia Goerges and Anna-Lena Groenefeld take on unseeded Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.
Goerges and Groenefeld defeated Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands and Sweden’s Johanna Larsson 6-2, 7-5 in their quarter-final, while Mattek-Sands and Safarova upset third-seeded Russian pairing Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-2.
In the mixed doubles, Chan’s younger sister Chan Hao-ching and Jamie Murray of Britain crashed out of the second round of the mixed doubles, falling to a 3-6, 6-4, 10-5 loss to fourth seeds Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic and Alexander Peya of Austria.
The Taiwanese-British duo were playing together for the first time after Chan Hao-ching asked Murray prior to the tournament if he was interested in teaming up.
The last remaining Taiwanese in the mixed doubles, Hsieh Su-wei, who is partnered by Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, faces Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil in the quarter-finals after the second seeds defeated Australian pairing Daria Gavrilova and Luke Saville 6-3, 6-2 yesterday.
In the singles, Rafael Nadal joined Roger Federer on the sidelines, taking their combined 31 Grand Slam singles titles with them.
On the women’s side, second seed Maria Sharapova, who beat Eugenie Bouchard, and Ekaterina Makarova are still around and will play an all-Russian semi-final.
Nadal’s lack of match fitness from nearly six months of injuries and illness finally caught up with the 14-time major champion in his quarter-final against Tomas Berdych. He was never much of a factor and lost 6-2, 6-0, 7-6 (7/5).
Third seed Nadal said before the tournament that his inactivity over the second half of last year made him unlikely to win more than a few rounds. Coming into the Australian Open, Nadal had played only eight matches since June last year because of a right-wrist injury and appendix surgery in November.
Federer, who has 17 major titles, including four in Australia, departed Melbourne Park after an upset third-round loss to Andrea Seppi.
Nadal said he was surprised to have advanced as far as he did in Melbourne.
“It is obvious that I needed something more to be more competitive,” Nadal said. “As I said when I arrived here, the process always is not easy. When you have injuries, comebacks are difficult, but without being at my top level of tennis, I was able to be here in quarter-finals. It’s not a bad result at all for me.”
“I was ready for everything and I think that was the difference... when you’re playing Rafa, you have to keep going to the last point,” Berdych said.
Seventh-seeded Berdych, who had lost 17 straight matches to Nadal, next plays sixth seed Andy Murray in the semi-finals after the British player beat local hope Nick Kyrgios 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.
Kyrgios came back from two sets down and saved a match point in the fourth round on Sunday before beating Italian Andreas Seppi, the player who had eliminated Federer, but there was no such comeback yesterday.
The 19-year-old Kyrgios, who walked onto the court with his headphones on and gave two thumbs-up to the crowd, was at his crowd-pleasing best. After hitting a backhanded drop-shot at the net for a winner in the second set, he spread out his arms for applause, and in the third set he hit a between-the-legs shot that Murray easily returned.
“It was a tricky match,” Murray said. “I tried to start as quick as possible because I know how dangerous Nick is. He’s a huge hitter of the ball, so I tried to keep it out of his strike zone as much as possible. Thankfully it worked.”
Sharapova moved closer to another Australian Open title, defeating 20-year-old Bouchard 6-3, 6-2.
The Russian made all the big points look easy and advanced to play Makarova, who earlier beat third seed Simona Halep 6-4, 6-0.
“I felt pretty good from the start, didn’t feel I had too many letdowns,” Sharapova said, adding that her close call in the second round — facing two match points against a qualifier — sharpened her focus for the rest of the tournament.
The last time Sharapova and Bouchard met — in the semi-finals at the French Open last year — Bouchard won the first set, before Sharapova came back to take the next two. The Russian then won the title at Roland Garros.
This time, Bouchard, who made the finals of Wimbledon and two other Grand Slam semis last year, did not come close to taking a set, looking flat from the outset while being broken in her opening service game. The Genie Army, a group of young Australian men who croon about the Canadian player, was left to sing another day.
“She didn’t give me many chances and against the great players you have to take any chances you can get,” Bouchard said.
The other women’s singles semi-finalists are to be determined today when top seed Serena Williams plays last year’s finalist, Dominika Cibulkova, and Venus Williams, playing in her first Grand Slam quarter-final in nearly five years, takes on 19-year-old Madison Keys of the US.
If the Williams sisters play each other in the semi-finals, it would be their first meeting in a Grand Slam tournament since the Wimbledon final in 2009 — won by Serena.
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