Taiwan’s Chan sisters advanced to the doubles final at the Hong Kong Open yesterday, while top seed and world No. 1 Angelique Kerber fell to a shock defeat in the quarter-finals of the singles.
Top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan eased through the first set of their semi-final against fourth-seeded Japanese duo Shuko Aoyama and Makoto Ninomiya, but then had to rally from 5-1 down in the second before completing a 6-2, 7-6 (9/7) victory in 1 hour, 27 minutes.
The Taiwanese sisters, who failed to convert a match point at 6-5 in the second set and survived a set point against them in the tiebreak when Aoyama double-faulted, saved two of six break points and converted six of eight, winning 72 of the 132 points contested to advance to tomorrow’s final against either British duo Naomi Broady and Heather Watson or Nao Hibino of Japan and Aleksandrina Naydenova of Bulgaria, who are due to play their semi-final today.
Photo: AFP
In the singles, Kerber’s chances of finishing the year with the No. 1 ranking were dented when she fell to a shock 6-3, 6-1 defeat to eighth seed Daria Gavrilova of Australia in 1 hour, 14 minutes.
Also advancing were fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki, who defeated Wang Qiang 6-3, 7-5, and Kristina Mladenovic, who ousted Bethanie Mattek-Sands 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
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