Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei defeated Misa Eguchi to advance to the quarter-finals of the BMW Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
World No. 181 Hsieh, who was given a wild card to play in the tournament, saved 11 of 14 break-point chances and converted six of 13 to complete a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 victory over the Japanese world No. 132 in 1 hour, 57 minutes on Centre Court at the Royal Selangor Golf Club in the Malaysian capital.
The victory gave Hsieh a 2-1 record against the 22-year-old Japanese, who she beat in Taipei in 2011, but lost to in the round-of-16 in Seoul last year.
Photo: EPA
Hsieh, who helped unveil the new limited edition BMW 520d Sport before her match yesterday, now faces 18-year-old world No. 171 Elizaveta Kulichkova in today’s quarter-finals after the Russian teenager defeated Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-0, 6-2 in the second round on Wednesday.
In yesterday’s other second-round matches, Carina Witthoeft of Germany shocked fifth seed Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7/3), 6-0 in 1 hour, 28 minutes, while top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark cruised past Zhu Lin of China 6-4, 6-1.
In the doubles, third-seeded Ukrainian duo Yuliya Beygelzimer and Olga Savchuk defeated Polish pairing Magda Linette and Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 4-6, 10-5 to set up a semi-final tomorrow against top seeds Darija Jurak of Croatia and Koukalova.
Today’s doubles semi-final sees Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen and Zheng Saisai of China take on Chinese duo Liang Chen and Wang Yafan.
ABIERTO MONTERREY
Top-seeded defending champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia advanced to the quarter-finals in the Abierto Monterrey Afirme on Wednesday night, beating Pauline Parmentier of France 6-3, 6-2.
Ivanovic is to face France’s Kristina Mladenovic, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Russia’s Vera Zvonareva in the hard-court event at Sierra Madre Tennis Club.
Second-seeded Sara Errani of Italy and eighth-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia also won second-round matches.
Errani beat Timea Babos of Hungary 6-3, 6-3, and Rybarikova outlasted Polona Hercog of Slovenia of 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (11/9).
Defending champions Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday led the way into the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals, with Carlos Alcaraz hot on their heels after a straight-sets victory of his own. Sinner shrugged off a mid-match weather delay lasting nearly three hours as he advanced 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) over Adrian Mannarino. Alcaraz, the second seed who has reached the final in his past six tournaments, hammered Italian lucky loser Luca Nardi 6-1, 6-4. After sweeping the opening set in 28 minutes, Alcaraz hit a speed bump, dropping his serve to trail 2-4. He promptly regained the break, then fought through a marathon ninth game
Taiwan’s men’s basketball team on Monday clinched a spot in the FIBA Asia Cup quarter-finals with a 78-64 win over Jordan in Saudi Arabia, securing their best finish in the tournament since placing fourth in 2013. The win was sweet revenge for Taiwan, who were denied a quarter-final spot by Jordan at the same stage of the previous Asia Cup in 2022 after blowing a nine-point lead in the final minute and losing 97-96 on a half-court buzzer-beater. “History is part of the journey,” Taiwan head coach Gianluca Tucci said when asked about the 2022 collapse of the team, who he did
Taiwan’s national basketball team on Wednesday suffered a heartbreaking loss, ending their FIBA Asia Cup run after Iran staged a dramatic comeback to secure a 78-75 victory in the quarter-finals at King Abdullah Sports City in Saudi Arabia. Taiwan were in front for 38 minutes, 30 seconds of the 40-minute game. Iran only took the lead in the final minute, but it was enough to knock Taiwan out of the tournament. With the win, Iran advanced to tomorrow’s semi-finals, when they face Australia. The loss ended a promising campaign for Taiwan, who had been aiming for their first semi-final appearance since the 2013 FIBA
STUMBLE: World No. 2 Coco Gauff confidently won her first set against seventh-seed Italian Jasmine Paolini before being overcome in the second and third sets World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and second-ranked Coco Gauff were sent crashing out of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Friday, while Carlos Alcaraz fought off a fierce challenge from Andrey Rublev to reach the semi-finals. Top seed and defending champion Sabalenka had no answer for Elena Rybakina, falling to the 2022 Wimbledon champion 6-1, 6-4. Reigning French Open champion Gauff had 16 double faults in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 exit at the hands of seventh-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini. Spain’s second-ranked Alcaraz had his difficulties, but he broke Rublev in the final game of a tense duel to emerge a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 winner
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