The Chan sisters began a season in which they will be eyeing a women’s doubles medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics with an unexpected loss at the Brisbane International yesterday, while fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei celebrated her birthday with a victory at the Shenzhen Open.
Second seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan lost their opening set of the year and never managed to recover, falling to a 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 10-5 defeat to unseeded pairing Raquel Atawo of the US and Alize Cornet of France in the first round in Brisbane.
The Taiwanese sisters, ranked 12th and seventh in the world respectively, saved four of six break points and converted five of seven, winning 52 percent of the points contested, but it was not enough as they fell to an opening-day defeat in 1 hour, 41 minutes at the Queensland Tennis Centre.
It was a disappointing start to the season for the Chan sisters, who teamed up last year with the intention of qualifying to represent Taiwan at this summer’s Olympic Games and went on to claim the women’s doubles titles in Pattaya, Cincinnatti and Tokyo.
Hsieh opened her campaign by celebrating her 30th birthday with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over China’s Duan Ying-ying at the Shenzhen Open.
The Taiwanese world No. 93 saved six of seven break points and converted three of nine, winning 78 of the 144 points contested to complete the victory in 1 hour, 25 minutes.
It improved Hsieh’s record against Duan to 4-0 and set up a second-round clash with Alison Riske of the US, who ousted German eighth seed Annika Beck 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-2 in 2 hours, 10 minutes.
Also advancing to the second round of the singles were third seed Irina-Camelia Begu, fellow Romanian fourth seed Monica Niculescu, seventh seed Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan, Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany, Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Timea Babos of Hungary.
It was also a disappointing day for Taiwan’s women’s doubles players in Shenzhen, with second seeds Chuang Chia-jung and Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia following Chan Chin-wei and Kotomi Takahata of Japan out of the exit.
Chuang and Kalashnikova were ousted 7-5, 6-3 by Vania King of the US and Niculescu in 1 hour, 30 minutes, while Chan Chin-wei and Takahata were beaten 7-6 (7/5), 6-0 by US duo Nicole Gibbs and Riske.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS