Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles.
Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week.
Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US.
Photo courtesy of Wu Fang-hsien
Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched their run of unbeaten matches to start the year to eight.
The Taiwanese-Chinese duo started the match strong, breaking their opponent’s serve three times and winning six games in a row in the first set.
The second set was much closer, with both sides breaking early and a tiebreaker needed to separate them.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Wu and Jiang fell behind 1-3 in the tiebreaker, but stormed back to lead 6-4. Although they missed out on two match points, they won the next two points to claim the WTA250 title.
Wu is changing partners for the Australian Open, which begins today with the men’s and women’s singles.
The Taiwanese is to partner with Anna Blinkova of Russia on Tuesday, when they are to play Clara Tauson of Denmark and the UK’s Jodie Anna Burrage in the first round.
Photo: AP
Other Taiwanese scheduled to play on Tuesday in the women’s doubles at the year’s first Grand Slam are: Tsao Chia-yi with partner Veronika Kudermetova of Russia, Chan Hao-ching and partner Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine and Hsieh Su-wei alongside Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko.
Tsao and Kudermetova face Thaland’s Peangtarn Plipuech and American-Japanese Ena Shibahara; Chan and Kichenok are to play Russian Anastasia Potapova and Olga Danilovic of Serbia; and Hsieh and Ostapenko were drawn against Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia and the UK’s Olivia Nicholls.
Meanwhile, Kessler heads into the Australian Open with a second WTA title under her belt after scoring a 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 victory over Elise Mertens of Belgium.
The American, who faces China’s Zhang Shuai in the first round at Melbourne Park, racked up 44 winners against Mertens, who was chasing a third title in Hobart after triumphs in 2017 and 2018, as well as a runners-up finish last year.
At the Memorial Drive Tennis Centre in Adelaide, Madison Keys of the US beat compatriot Jessica Pegula 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in the women’s singles final.
AUCKLAND CLASSIC
AP, AUCKLAND, New Zealand
French veteran Gael Monfils yesterday became the oldest player to win an ATP Tour title after beating Zizou Bergs 6-3, 6-4 at the Auckland Classic.
Monfils claimed his 13th tour title 20 years after his first. At the age of 38 years, 132 days, he took over from Roger Federer, who was 38 years, 74 days old when he won the final tour title of his career, the Swiss Indoor title at Basel in 2019.
Prior to the start of the Auckland tournament, Monfils spoke about how his love of tennis kept him going.
“I love tennis. I love what I’m doing so of course all the sacrifices you do, they are a little bit easier. When you love something, it’s easier to keep pushing,” he said. “I’ve been enjoying myself since the first day I played tennis and [at] 60 years old, I will still have this joy. Practice, it’s easy. It’s in the DNA. Stay in shape, it’s easy. It’s more the travel.”
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS