The Chan sisters yesterday advanced to the semi-finals at the Gippsland Trophy in Melbourne, while Serena Williams withdrew from the Yarra Valley Classic citing a shoulder injury within hours of setting up a semi-final against world No. 1 Ash Barty.
Taiwanese second seeds Latisha Chan and Chan Hao-ching defeated unseeded Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic and Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the doubles in 1 hour, 26 minutes.
The Chan sisters saved six of 10 break points and converted six of 14, winning 49 percent of points on first return to advance to a semi-final against Russian eighth seeds Anna Blinkova and Veronika Kudermetova, who rallied from a set down to defeat Romanian duo Monica Niculescu and Patricia Maria Tig 2-6, 6-2, 10-8.
Photo: AP
It is the Chan sisters’ first tournament back on the WTA Tour since the Qatar Open in the final week of February last year.
The Gippsland Trophy is one of six warm-up tournaments for the Australian Open, which is due to begin on Monday. The Taiwanese advanced to the semi-finals of the Grand Slam last year, falling to eventual champions Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France.
Williams usually does not play a tournament in the week before a Grand Slam, but made an exception before last year’s US Open and for the Australian Open because of all the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The American 23-time Grand Slam champion was playing her first tournament since withdrawing from the French Open before her second-round match because of an Achilles tendon injury in October last year. She, like all the players in Melbourne, had to quarantine for 14 days and had limited practice during that time.
Williams recorded three wins at the Yarra Valley Classic culminating yesterday with a 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 win over Danielle Collins.
The withdrawal came after her post-match news conference — when she made no reference to any injury — so no full explanation was offered.
It means Barty gets a walkover into tomorrow’s final.
There were 70 matches on the order of play yesterday, an expanded program a day after all matches in six tournaments were postponed so that 160 players could isolate and undergo testing because a worker at a quarantine hotel returned a positive COVID-19 test.
Tennis Australia said that all of the tests returned negative.
Before withdrawing, Williams had said that she was looking forward to the semi-final.
“It’s definitely a good opportunity to see where I’m going against the current No. 1, that’s really important for me,” Williams said. “Obviously, I think for her, as well, to see where she’s going against my game. It’s been a long 12 months. Tennis has been played, but not really, so ... hopefully this is like a new year where things will be different.”
On the other side of the draw, Garbine Muguruza beat defending Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-2, 6-2 to advance to a semi-final against Czech eighth seed Marketa Vondrousova.
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka rallied from two breaks down in the first set and had to save two match points in a tiebreaker before beating Yulia Putintseva 6-4, 1-6, 11-9 to advance to the semis of the Grampians Trophy, an event staged for the players forced into hard lockdown during quarantine.
She next faces former Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber, who beat eighth seed Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4.
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