Despite elder sister Chan Yung-jan suffering flu symptoms, the Chan sisters cruised into the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open on Wednesday, while Agnieszka Radwanska avoided the fate of many of the top seeds in the singles by advancing to the last eight.
Fourth seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan took just 51 minutes to dispatch fellow Taiwanese Chan Chin-wei and Katalin Marosi of Hungary 6-2, 6-1 in the second round of the doubles at the International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha.
Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan, who rose to 10th and ninth in this week’s WTA Tour world doubles rankings, saved five of seven break points and converted six of seven, winning 54 of the 78 points contested.
It was the Chan sisters first match since they clinched their first WTA Tour title of the year at the Taiwan Open in Kaohsiung on Sunday last week, though it was not all plain sailing.
“Last few days in Doha in poor health — fever, headache and unable to concentrate fully for several days,” Chan Yung-jan wrote on Facebook following the victory.
In yesterday’s quarter-finals, the sisters were due to face sixth seeds Timea Babos of Hungary and Julia Goerges of Germany, who advanced after their second-round opponents Czech duo Petra Kvitova and Barbora Strycova withdrew due to injury.
In the singles, third seed Radwanska defeated Romania’s Monica Niculescu 7-5, 6-1 to restore some order to a tournament where many of the top players have crashed out in the opening rounds.
The Pole overcame windy conditions and a tricky first set in which her serve was broken twice to make the quarter-finals.
“Well, for sure, [that was] not an easy match. Very tricky opponent,” Radwanska told reporters. “She really made me play my best tennis, so I’m very happy to win that match in two sets.”
Radwanska struck 31 winners and 15 unforced errors.
Asked if she was now the clear favorite to win having seen at least nine seeds lose, including Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber, second seed Simona Halep and defending champion Lucie Safarova, Radwanska said the tournament was still wide open.
“Well, as we know, every tournament has these kind of score surprises and some of the top players are out in the earlier rounds, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. A lot of new names are coming up now and we can see they’re really doing good. I think every match is tough,” she said.
Double Wimbledon champion Kvitova, the fifth seed, was another who exited the tournament on Wednesday.
The Czech lost 7-5, 2-6, 1-6 to Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko.
Ostapenko is ranked 78 places behind world No. 8 Kvitova.
Also crashing out was Caroline Wozniacki. The 13th seed lost in three sets to the impressive Elena Vesnina 5-7, 7-5, 3-6.
Vesnina had beaten Halep in the previous round and is now one of at least four unseeded players through to the last eight.
Another is Zheng Saisai, the Chinese player who surprisingly knocked out Kerber in the previous round. On Wednesday, she claimed another high-profile scalp, beating Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets.
Zheng won 7-6 (7/1), 6-1 to march into the final eight.
The world No. 73 won in 1 hour, 35 minutes against Bouchard, who is returning to the circuit following a freak injury she sustained at the US Open in September last year.
Fourth seed Garbine Muguruza won 6-2, 7-5 in an uncharacteristically scare-free match against Babos.
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