Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan crashed out of the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Mutua Madrid Open yesterday, while world No. 1 Novak Djokovic eased into the third round of the men’s singles on Wednesday.
The fourth-seeded Chan sisters looked to be heading for a possible semi-final showdown with top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza after they claimed the first set 6-2, but Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva fought back in the second, then saved two match points in the super tiebreak before converting their first chance to clinch the match 2-6, 6-4, 11-9 on Pista 4 at the Caja Magica in the Spanish capital.
The American-Russia duo saved six of 10 break points and converted three of five, winning five fewer points than the Taiwanese pairing, but still prevailing in 1 hour, 26 minutes.
Photo: screen grab from Facebook
In the second round on Wednesday, the Chan sisters eased into the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Margarita Gasparyan of Russia and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in 64 minutes.
In the men’s singles on Wednesday, Djokovic advanced by beating Borna Coric 6-2, 6-4.
Djokovic, who had not played in Madrid since 2013, served four double faults, but relied on his return to overpower Coric.
“I thought I was serving quite well in the practice sessions, but then the first set went well, the second not so much,” said Djokovic, who claimed his only Madrid Open title in 2011 when he beat Rafael Nadal in the final. “The first-serve percentage could have been higher and should be higher for the upcoming matches, but I’m satisfied with my game.”
Coric’s style has been compared to that of “a young Djokovic,” and the Serb said his opponent had a “nice balance between confident approach and self-belief on the court, and is not really intimidated by anyone’s presence.”
Djokovic said he could “identify myself with him because we have very similar backgrounds, coming from Croatia and Serbia. We have the same mentality, speak the same language and more or the less [the] same trajectory or path to professional tennis.”
Tennis fans are bound to see more of Coric, Djokovic said.
Djokovic’s next opponent is 15th seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who defeated fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.
Also on Wednesday, Nick Kyrgios of Australia put in a hard-hitting performance to beat fourth seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Swizterland 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/2), while sixth seed Kei Nishikori advanced by beating Fabio Fognini 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
Sam Querrey of the US defeated Lucas Pouille of France 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4 and eighth seed Tomas Berdych beat Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-3.
Also advancing were Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, Czech eighth seed Tomas Berdych, Spanish ninth seed David Ferrer, French 16th seed Gilles Simon, Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, Jack Sock of the US and Joao Sousa of Portugal.
In the women’s singles, Victoria Azarenka pulled out because of a lower-back injury.
The fourth seed said that she “tweaked” her back during her match against Laura Robson and that the pain persisted during her second-round win over Alize Cornet.
Azarenka had been scheduled to play Louisa Chirico of the US, but she withdrew during the warm-up.
Azarenka said she would undergo medical tests before making a decision about playing in Rome next week.
The women’s singles also lost its fifth seed when 22-year-old Daria Gavrilova of Australia defeated Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4.
Also advancing to the quarter-finals were Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia and Samantha Stosur of the US, along with sixth seed Simona Halep and fellow Romanians Sorana Cirstea, Irina-Camelia Begu and Patricia Maria Tig.
Former NBA sensation Jeremy Lin, recently recruited by the P.League+’s Kaohsiung Steelers, arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday. Lin arrived at the airport at 5:46am on a China Airlines flight from the US before leaving the airport via a VIP terminal. Lin, whose parents are from Taiwan, is believed to be observing Taiwan’s “0+7” self-initiated COVID-19 prevention program for arrivals. Lin had said earlier in the week that he would be practicing social distancing from yesterday through Saturday, meaning he would not participate in games or visit the Steelers’ home court during that period. The Steelers said in a statement that Lin would
Taiwan on Saturday swept Mexico in the first day of their Davis Cup World Group playoff tie, while three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka rolled back the clock to secure a thrilling win for Switzerland over Germany in their qualifier. World No. 110 Tseng Chun-hsing beat Mexico’s Cesar Ramirez 6-4, 6-3 in straight sets on a clay court in Metepec, Mexico, while Hsu Yu-hsiou of Changhua City dominated Alan Fernando Rubio Fierros 7-5, 6-3. Their showdown started under controversy after a group of Mexican players last week said they would not compete as they were not given enough notice about the date
INTO THE WILD: After becoming the first Asian to finish the 13-day test in 2013, Chen said he was excited to return to the Canadian wilderness and do what he loves most Taiwanese runner Tommy Chen on Saturday returned to the Yukon Arctic Ultra 10 years after finishing third in the self-supported 700km race. Battling through harsh terrain and temperatures of minus-15°C, Chen yesterday had covered about 69km since the start of the race at 10:30am on Saturday, placing him 13th out of 24 competitors, the event’s Web site showed. Chen, who became the first Asian to finish the event in Canada’s Yukon Territory in 2013 at the age of 27, still has another 25km to reach Dog Grave Lake, the third of the race’s 12 checkpoints. Chen was racing on foot, while some chose
Taiwanese shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday won the men’s singles title at the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters in Bangkok, after outdueling the fourth-seeded defending champion Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong. World No. 35 Lin topped world No. 18 Ng 21-17, 21-14 in their first-ever matchup that lasted 37 minutes. It was the 23-year-old Lin’s first title of the season and his second BWF World Tour Super 300 championship win after capturing the Yonex US Open in 2019. Ng was the men’s singles champion in the Thailand Masters’ previous edition in 2020. As a Super 300 event, the fifth tier of professional badminton tournaments
RSS