Taiwan’s top tennis players yesterday were unable to overcome a 2-0 deficit to survive their Davis Cup qualifier against France in Taipei.
France dominated Taiwan in the first two days of the Davis Cup, adding two more victories yesterday for a 4-0 win over Taiwan to book their place in the group stages.
France secured their passage when Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin came back from a set down to beat Hsu Yu-hsiou and Jason Jung 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/1).
Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei Times
“We were perhaps a little timid at the start,” Roger-Vasselin said. “We stayed calm. We knew our level of play was going to change. We had to keep our nerve.”
Quentin Halys rounded off the French victory with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) win over World No. 305 Chun Hsin-tseng.
On Saturday, World No. 230 Hsu, Taiwan’s top player in the men’s singles category, lost 6-4, 6-4 to 19-year-old world No. 68 Luca Van Assche.
“[I] had prepped to win, but the results were not all that satisfactory,” Hsu said in a post-game interview, adding that he and his team had set up offensive strategies that did not pay off.
“The match technically concluded how I expected it would,” he added. “But I think it could have gone better.”
However, Hsu said the match was a learning experience, as he was able to observe how one of the world’s top 100 players reacted during critical moments.
Also on Saturday, world No. 238 Wu Tung-lin lost to world No. 17 Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 7-5.
Prior to the matches, all available tickets to the Taipei Tennis Center were sold out.
Hsu said that being cheered on by almost 3,000 fans at the center left quite an impression on him.
“It is great that so many supporters came to cheer for me and Taiwan,” he said. “I have had experiences with big crowds at competitions, but they were not all supporting me. I really enjoyed playing like that.”
Yesterday, India eased past Pakistan 4-0 in their World Group I play-off tie, while on Saturday, Serbia, without Novak Djokovic, proved no match for Slovakia who surged into the group stage of the Davis Cup for the first time, with Germany and Finland among five other countries qualifying.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two