The Chan sisters cruised to the quarter-finals of the doubles at the OEC Taipei WTA Challenger at the Taipei Arena yesterday, while fellow Taiwanese Chang Kai-chen, Chuang Chia-jung and Chan Chin-wei were also victorious.
Top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan took just 44 minutes to see off Irina Khromacheva of Russia and Hiroko Kuwata of Japan 6-1, 6-1 in their first-round match as they began their bid to retain the title they won in 2014, but chose not to defend last year.
The Taiwanese sisters saved the only break point they faced and converted five of nine, winning 51 of the 74 points contested to advance to a quarter-final today against Ankita Raina of India and Emily Webley-Smith of Britain.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
In the remaining first-round doubles match, Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei and Riko Sawayanagi of Japan edged Junri Namigata of Japan and Peangtarn Plipuech of Thailand 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 12-10 in 1 hour, 37 minutes.
The Taiwanese-Japanese duo saved nine of 13 break points and converted two of seven to advance to a quarter-final today against third seeds Naomi Broady of Britain and Ipek Soylu of Turkey.
In the two doubles quarter-finals played yesterday, Chang and Chuang defeated Olga Govortsova of Belarus and Evgeniya Rodina of Russia 6-3, 6-3 in 65 minutes.
The Taiwanese duo, who were the losing finalists to the Chan sisters in 2014, saved eight of 11 break points and converted all six they created to advance to a possible semi-final against the top seeds tomorrow.
It was not such a successful day for Taiwanese duo Hsu Ching-wen and Lee Ya-hsuan as they fell to a 6-4, 6-2 defeat to Russian pairing Natela Dzalamidze and Veronika Kudermetova in 61 minutes.
Earlier, Chang kept Taiwanese hopes alive in the singles with a comprehensive 6-2, 6-1 second-round victory over Zhang Kailin of China in just 52 minutes.
Chang saved one of two break points and converted five of seven, winning 60 of the 93 points contested to improve her career record over Zhang to 2-0.
The Taiwanese world No. 154 today faces a quarter-final against Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand, who defeated Soylu 6-2, 6-4 in 1 hour, 17 minutes, avenging a defeat in their only previous meeting in Dalian, China, in September.
Chang has a 2-2 career record against the Thai world No. 145.
Also advancing to the quarter-finals were eighth seed Marina Erakovic of New Zealand, who defeated Kudermetova in 7-5, 6-3, and Tatjana Maria of Germany, who ousted former champion Alison van Uytvanck of Belgium 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3).
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