Top seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova yesterday crashed out of the French Open as they suffered only their second defeat of the season on the clay courts in Paris.
The Taiwanese-Czech duo were stunned 6-4, 7-5 by 14th seeds Alexa Guarachi of Chile and Desirae Krawczyk of the US in 1 hour, 25 minutes in the third round of the women’s doubles on Court 14 at Roland Garros.
The reigning Wimbledon champions won only 52 percent of points on their first serve, while their opponents won 64 percent and converted five of six break points, as they denied Hsieh and Strycova a shot at a second Grand Slam title in the French capital.
Photo: EPA-EFE
It was only the Taiwanese-Czech pairing’s second loss of the season, following a 6-2, 6-1 defeat to Hungarian-French reigning French Open champions Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic in the final of the Australian Open before the COVID-19 suspension.
They had not dropped a set since resuming in Rome last month and collecting their fourth title of the season.
In women’s singles on Saturday, Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur became the first Arab woman to make the last 16 with a 7-6 (9/7), 2-6, 6-3 win over Belarusian eighth seed Aryna Sabalenka.
Jabeur, seeded 30, who made the quarter-finals at the Australian Open in January, next faces 57th-ranked American Danielle Collins who stunned 2016 champion and 11th seed Garbine Muguruza 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.
“The people in Tunisia are really encouraging me a lot. Media, I’m not sure,” Jabeur said.
American fourth seed and Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin eased through with a 6-2, 6-0 defeat of Romanian qualifier Irina Bara, while Zhang Shuai defeated French wildcard, and world number 357, Clara Burel 7-6 (7/2), 7-5 to become the first Chinese woman to reach the last 16 since former champion Li Na in 2012.
Spain’s Paula Badosa, ranked at 87, wept in her courtside chair as she reached the round of 16 at a Slam for the first time.
The 2015 junior champion, who put out former US Open winner Sloane Stephens in the last round, defeated 2017 champion in Paris Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 6-3. Ostapenko was undone by 43 unforced errors and 10 double faults.
In the men’s singles on Saturday, Novak Djokovic demolished Colombian lucky loser Daniel Galan to reach the last 16 for a record-equaling 11th successive year, as unheralded Daniel Altmaier struck another blow for the underdogs.
World No. 1 Djokovic swept past 153rd-ranked Galan 6-0, 6-3, 6-2, his most challenging moment coming when he helped ground staff lay more clay on the surface of Court Philippe Chatrier after rain had made it treacherous.
“I played pretty solid today, I’m happy about that,” said Djokovic, the 2016 champion who is chasing an 18th Grand Slam title, after his 71st win in Paris.
The day after world No. 239 Hugo Gaston and Sebastian Korda, ranked at 213, made the last 16, German qualifier Altmaier kept the sport’s outsiders in the headlines.
The world No. 186 stunned seventh seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, becoming just the fourth man in 20 years to reach the round of 16 on his Grand Slam debut.
Victory also means an unexpected financial windfall for the 22-year-old who is guaranteed at least US$221,400 having earned US$173,600 in his entire six-year career.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but