Taiwanese wild-card Lee Ya-hsuan crashed out on the first day of the WTA Tour’s Taiwan Open at the Taipei Arena yesterday, but there was something to cheer for the home crowd as Chan Chin-wei and Nicole Melichar advanced to the quarter-finals of the doubles.
Lee fell to a 6-3, 6-4 first-round defeat to seventh seed Shelby Rodgers in 72 minutes.
The American saved one of two break points and converted three of seven, winning 67 of the 113 points contested to advance to the second round.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
“Although it was a defeat for me today, I have improved my game and I am moving in the right direction. The experience has also helped to bolster my confidence playing on indoor courts,” said Lee, who served up four double faults in the defeat.
Rodgers was joined in the second round by fourth seed Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia, fifth seed Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, sixth seed Misaki Doi of Japan, Tunisian qualifier Ons Jabeur, Mandy Minella of Luxembourg and Risa Ozaki of Japan.
In the women’s doubles, Chan and Melichar defeated Akiko Omae of Japan and Zhu Lin of China 7-5, 6-2 in 67 minutes.
The Taiwanese-American pairing saved 10 of 12 break points and converted five of 11, winning 63 of the 120 points contested in the first doubles match of the tournament, which runs until Sunday on the indoor courts at the Taipei Arena.
Lee was back on court in the late doubles match yesterday alongside partner Peangtarn Plipuech of Thailand.
As at press time last night, Lee and Plipuech were leading third seeds Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia and Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 4-2.
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