The Chan sisters came out on top in an all-Taiwanese first-round doubles clash at the Taiwan Open yesterday, while Chang Kai-chen and Chuang Chia-jung fell at the first hurdle at the Taipei Arena.
Top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan battled past fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Shu-ying and Hsu Ching-wen 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in 1 hour, 38 minutes.
The Chan sisters saved three of five break points and converted three of 14, winning 77 of the 149 points contested to set up a semi-final against Danka Kovinic of Montenegro and Magda Linette of Poland, who earlier defeated Japanese duo Misaki Doi and Kurumi Nara 6-4, 4-6, 10-4 in 1 hour, 30 minutes.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
In yesterday’s opening doubles match, Chang and Chuang fell to a 6-4, 6-4 first-round defeat to Nao Hibino of Japan and Zhang Kailin of China in 71 minutes.
Hibino and Zhang saved four of seven break points and converted five of 11, winning 58 of the 112 points contested to advance to a quarter-final against wild-cards Lee Ya-hsuan of Taiwan and Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech.
Chang said she had apologized after the match to Chuang about her form.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
“I could not raise my energy level, at times [I] was feeling sleepy on the court, so it was not a good performance,” Chang said.
“As Chang’s partner for this match, I am also responsible for the loss,” Chuang said. “I did not help Chang out of her lethargy in time, to raise her energy level and up her tempo during the game. I played up front at the net, but did not help much and [I] felt we were too passive today ... the sound of the ball seemed to arrive a bit earlier than its actual speed and we were too slow to make that adjustment.”
Second-seeded Czech duo Lucie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova took just 61 minutes to see off Japanese pairing Shuko Aoyama and Makoto Ninomiya 6-4, 6-1 to set up a quarter-final against Taiwanese-American duo Chan Chin-wei and Nicole Melichar.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
In the second round of the singles, third seed Caroline Garcia fell to a shock 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Mandy Minella of Luxembourg in 1 hour, 21 minutes.
The world No. 93 saved three of five break points and converted four of six, winning 69 of the 126 points contested to oust the 25th-ranked Frenchwoman.
“I gave a good performance and stayed consistent throughout the match. My volley and drop-shot were working well, and kept the balls low for picking up points,” Minella said.
“Garcia had made great progress at major tournaments in recent years, but I don’t think she was in her best condition today,” she said. “I just had a better form today and managed to defeat her.”
Wild-card Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic then stunned fourth seed Anastasija Sevastova 6-2, 6-4 in 67 minutes to improve her career record against the 32nd-ranked Latvian to 2-0.
Tunisian qualifier Ons Jabeur, the world No. 181, also caused an upset, beating seventh seed American world No. 48 Shelby Rodgers 7-5, 6-2 in 1 hour, 24 minutes.
Sixth seed Doi had a comparatively easier task against Risa Ozaki, taking 1 hour, 39 minutes to complete a 6-4, 6-3 victory to improve her career record over her fellow Japanese to 3-0.
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