Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung lost out in a closely fought doubles semi-final at the Internationaux de Strasbourg yesterday, the final warm-up tournament before the French Open, the second Grand Slam of the year, begins in Paris tomorrow.
Second seeds Chuang and Darija Jurak fell to a 5-7, 6-4, 10-8 defeat to third seeds Maria Irigoyen and Liang Chen in 1 hour, 41 minutes on the red clay in France.
The Taiwanese-Croatian duo saved just two of seven break points, while converting five of 11 and winning 71 of the 144 points contested, but it was not enough as the Argentine-Chinese pairing advanced to today’s doubles final against top-seeded Spaniards Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja.
Photo: EPA
In the singles quarter-finals on Thursday, fourth-seeded Kristina Mladenovic downed Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 6-4, 6-2 to reach her first semi-final this season.
Mladenovic, who received a wild card, led two other Frenchwomen in the last four, Caroline Garcia and lucky loser Virginie Razzano.
In a match featuring 13 breaks of serve, Mladenovic was the strongest on important points and was glad she spent just 68 minutes on the court after a three-setter against Alison Riske in her previous match.
“It was a quick match and it’s the ideal scenario before a semifinal, to be able to get some rest and not walk out on the court tomorrow tired,” she said.
Croatian veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni prevented an all-French semifinals by sweeping past Pauline Parmentier 6-0, 6-1.
Nuremberg Open
AP, NUREMBERG, Germany
Third-seeded Annika Beck topped seventh-seeded Anna-Lena Friedsam 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-2 in an all-German quarter-final in Nuremberg on Thursday.
That was the only match that was completed on a bizarre day interrupted by rain.
Beck will next play Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens, who advanced when Bogota champion Irina Falconi of Italy quit with a right-ankle injury after losing the first set 6-1.
Julia Goerges advanced to her first semi-final since January when fourth-seeded Lesia Tsurenko pulled out with a left hamstring injury.
Goerges will face either Varvara Lepchenko or Mariana Duque-Marino, whose quarter-final was postponed because of darkness.
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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