Taiwanese sisters Latisha Chan and Chan Hao-ching, and siblings Hsieh Su-wei and Hsieh Cheng-peng on Friday both notched victories in their respective doubles events at Wimbledon.
The ninth seeded Chan sisters cruised past Belgian duo Alison van Uytvanck and Greet Minnen 6-2, 6-1 in less than an hour to advance to the third round of the women’s doubles.
They entered Wimbledon on a high by winning the women’s doubles at a Wimbledon warm-up event at the Nature Valley International, but they are next to face the formidable sixth seed duo of Belgian Elise Mertens and Belarussian Aryna Sabalenka.
Photo: AFP
Mertens and Sabalenka last month reached the finals of the French Open women’s doubles and won top-tier events in Indian Wells and Miami in March.
Meanwhile, elder sister Hsieh Su-wei and younger brother Hsieh Cheng-peng scored a relatively easy victory in the first round of the mixed doubles against Japanese duo Miyu Kato and Ben McLachlan, winning the match 6-4, 6-4 in 59 minutes.
This is the first and probably last time the Hsiehs are to pair up in a tournament, because the 33-year-old Hsieh Su-wei said she would focus on playing singles as she moves closer to retirement.
The pairing was a one-time arrangement to please their fans and have some fun, Hsieh Su-wei said.
They will next meet this year’s French Open mixed doubles champions Latisha Chan and Ivan Dodig of Croatia.
Also on Friday, fifteen-year-old sensation Cori “Coco” Gauff’s magical journey continued, when the US youngster saved two match points to reach the last 16.
Gauff battled back from 2-5 down in the second set and held her nerve when Slovenian opponent Polona Hercog clawed her way to 4-4 from 1-4 in the decider.
Her reward is a fourth-round clash on “Manic Monday” against former world No. 1 Simona Halep.
“I’m just super relieved that it’s over, it was a long match,” Gauff said. “She was playing unbelievable. It was my first match on Centre Court, people say Court One is my court, maybe Centre can be too now.”
Gauff’s dramatic victory on an enthralled Centre Court overshadowed Novak Djokovic’s passage to the last 16 for the 12th time.
The four-time champion is one of just four top 10 seeds left in the tournament along with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Kei Nishikori.
Defending champion and world No. 1 Djokovic defeated Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-4.
He will next face Ugo Humbert of France, the world No. 66.
“He was fighting. He was playing well, serving well and hitting clean and accurate shots,” said Djokovic, who is now level with Boris Becker in third place on the all-time list with 12 last-16 places.
However, Kevin Anderson, last year’s runner-up and fourth seed, slumped to a shock 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) defeat to Argentina’s Guido Pella, the 26th seed.
“He made life really difficult for me,” said Anderson, who was playing just his second tournament since March after recovering from an elbow injury.
Pella goes on to face 2016 runner-up Milos Raonic for a place in the quarter-finals.
Raonic, the 15th seed, reached the fourth round for the fifth time by seeing off the sport’s tallest man, Reilly Opelka of the US, 7-6 (7/1), 6-2, 6-1.
France’s Benoit Paire booked a last 16 place for the second time with a 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) win over Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely.
He is to meet Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, who stunned Russian 10th seed Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1.
In the women’s event, Czech Karolina Muchova, the world No. 68, put out Estonian 20th seed Anett Kontaveit 7-6 (9/7), 6-3.
Muchova is making her Wimbledon debut, as is 19-year-old Dayana Yastremska, and the 35th-ranked Ukrainian marked the occasion by also making the last 16.
She put out Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic 7-5, 6-3 and next meets unseeded Chinese player Zhang Shuai.
Romanian seventh seed Halep came from 1-3 down in the first set to defeat fellow former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-1.
Azarenka was undone by 33 unforced errors.
Additional reporting by CNA
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