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.
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