Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Timea Babos of Hungary yesterday cruised into the semi-finals of the doubles at the Taiwan Open after Babos had to battle for more than two hours before booking a spot in the quarter-finals of the singles at the Heping Sports Complex in Taipei.
The top seeds took just 61 minutes to see off the challenge of Japanese duo Eri Hozumi and Junri Namigata 6-1, 6-4.
The Taiwanese-Hungarian pairing saved two of four break points and converted five of nine, winning 58 of the 100 points contested as Chan kept her bid to retain the title she won last year with elder sister Latisha Chan firmly on track.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The top seeds are to face Nao Hibino and Oksana Kalashnikova in tomorrow’s semi-final after the Japanese-Georgian pairing defeated Cornelia Lister of Sweden and Arina Rodionova of Australia 6-2, 6-2 in 63 minutes in the earlier quarter-final.
In the singles, fourth seed Babos eventually battled to a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Slovenian world No. 169 Dalila Jakupovic in 2 hours, 5 minutes.
Babos saved two of six break points and converted six of eight to set up a quarter-final against Magda Linette, who had an even tougher time overcoming Johanna Larsson.
The Polish seventh seed eventually defeated the Swedish world No. 83 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/3) in 3 hours, 7 minutes.
“Johanna is always a tough opponent,” Linette told the WTA Web site. “I’m happy that I managed to keep my nerves and get the win today. It was very tough because I was a little bit injured, so I’m glad I managed to turn it around [after losing the second set].”
In the other second-round matches, Wang Yafan of China upset French eighth seed Pauline Parmentier 6-3, 6-3 and Eugenie Bouchard of Canada defeated Ana Bogdan of Romania 7-5, 7-5.
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