Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova on Tuesday survived a crucial doubles group-stage match at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, giving them a chance today to earn a semi-final berth, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Belgian partner Elise Mertens were at press time last night aiming to advance as Green Group winners.
Third seeds Chan and Kudermetova, making their first Finals appearance as a duo, edged past fifth seeds Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk of the US in 88 minutes for their first win of the year-ending tournament featuring the eight best singles players and doubles pairs of the calendar year.
Their 3-6, 6-3 (10/7) victory improved their White Group record in the round-robin phase to 1-1. If they today beat No. 4 seeds Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini of Italy, they would advance to the semi-finals, joining Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe, who downed Chan and Kudermetova 7-6 (7/6), 6-4 on Sunday.
Photo: Reuters
Chan and Kudermetova’s win on Tuesday at King Saud University Indoor Arena handed Gabriela and Routliffe, last year’s US Open champions, their semi-final berth. Earlier this year, the Taiwanese and Russian pair denied the Canadian and New Zealander a second US Open victory, defeating them in the quarter-finals.
The top-two finishers from each group of the WTA Finals advance to the semi-finals.
Last night, Australian Open champions Hsieh and Mertens were aiming to beat the Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend of the US to advance as Green Group winners.
Photo: AFP
Sinakova and Townsend would advance no matter the result, but third seeds Hsieh and Mertens have to win to move on after Australia’s Ellen Perez and Nicole Melichar-Martinez yesterday beat Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko.
Meanwhile, Coco Gauff on Tuesday posted a rare victory over Iga Swiatek to punch her ticket to the singles semi-finals, ensuring Aryna Sabalenka would finish the year as the world No. 1.
Swiatek, the defending champion, was in a direct battle with Sabalenka for the top spot this week, but needed a win over Gauff to keep her chances alive of leapfrogging her Belarusian rival.
Gauff, 20, entered the contest having lost 11 of her 12 previous meetings with Swiatek, with the American’s sole victory coming in Cincinnati last year.
She turned the tables on Swiatek on Tuesday, defeating the second seed 6-3, 6-4 to make it two straight-sets wins from two round-robin matches in Riyadh this week.
“It feels great. I knew going into the match that despite our head-to-head I had a lot of confidence going in,” said Gauff, who hit 11 double faults during the 1-hour, 48-minute showdown.
Swiatek, a five-time major champion, said her two-month break between the US Open and the WTA Finals and that she is playing her first tournament with her new coach Wim Fissette have made things “a bit more tricky and different than usual.”
“But I’ll force myself to work even better in the next match,” the Pole added.
Earlier in the day Barbora Krejcikova ended Jessica Pegula’s chances of qualifying for the semi-finals, defeating the sixth-seeded American 6-3, 6-3.
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