Taiwan may well have a new tennis superstar in the making, and Melbourne witnessed just what he can do yesterday.
In the boys' singles competition at the Australian Open, 16-year-old tenth seed Yang Tsung-hua (楊宗樺) beat fourth seed Ryan Harrison of the US in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) in the semi-finals. He will meet fifth seed Bernard Tomic of Australia, who beat Yuki Bhambri of India 6-0, 5-7, 6-1, in today's final.
Yang, who has just been named in Taiwan's Davis Cup team, broke Harrison's serve in the first game of the match, and then held his serve to take the set 6-4.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
In the second set, both players held their serves until the eighth game, when Harrison broke Yang, only for Yang to break back in the following game, setting up a tie break. At 6-7 down in the tie break, Yang won both his serves to lead 8-7 and then immediately converted his first match point to take the tie breaker 9-7.
Yang then powered his way to the final by taking a one-sided third set 6-1 against a wilting Harrison.
Once Yang had completed that victory, he joined up with doubles partner Hsieh Cheng-peng (謝正鵬) to triumph in the boys' doubles tournament. They beat the second seeds, Vasek Pospisil of Canada and Cesar Ramirez of Mexico, 3-6, 7-5, 10-5.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
In the first set, both pairs held their serves through the sixth game. In the seventh Hsieh was broken, as was Yang in the ninth, giving their opponents a one set lead.
In the second set, Ramirez lost his serve at 5-6, handing Hsieh and Yang the second set.
The third set was the first pair to 10 games and Hsieh and Yang quickly took command, rushing to an 8-2 lead before finally winning the set 10-5.
Although Taiwan's Yi Chu-huan (易楚寰) won the boys' doubles together with South Korean Kim Sun-yong at the 2005 Australian Open, this win marks the first time an all-Taiwanese team has won a doubles championship of this stature.
Yang will be looking to better that in tomorrow afternoon's singles final. Either way, it looks like the start of a very promising career.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Connelly Early on Tuesday struck out 11 in five shutout innings to match a franchise record during his MLB debut against the Oakland Athletics. “Pretty sick performance,” teammate Romy Gonzalez said. “It was fun to watch.” The only other Red Sox starter to rack up 11 strikeouts in his first career game was Don Aase versus the Milwaukee Brewers on July 26, 1977. “It was amazing, just to go out there and have that first opportunity,” Early said after getting the win in a 6-0 victory. “A long day of travel yesterday and just getting to the field, seeing
Mikel Merino on Sunday scored a hat-trick as a majestic Spain thumped Turkey 6-0 away in World Cup qualifying, while a brilliant Florian Wirtz free-kick helped Germany beat Northern Ireland 3-1 to get their bid up and running. European champions Spain were in unstoppable form in the central Turkish city of Konya, claiming their second biggest-ever away win in World Cup qualifying as Arsenal midfielder Merino scored his first professional hat-trick. Barcelona playmaker Pedri Gonzalez opened the scoring inside six minutes and later completed the scoring, with Ferran Torres netting the visitors’ other goal. The quality of Merino’s strikes was remarkable, with his
ELEVEN STRIKEOUTS: Blake Snell allowed two singles and two walks against the Rockies as he ended a personal three-game skid with his first win since Aug. 16 Blake Snell on Wednesday struck out a season-high 11 in six innings, while Mookie Betts hit a grand slam in the eighth as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 9-0 for their fourth straight win. Helped by their third series sweep of the Rockies this MLB season, the Dodgers increased their National League West lead to three games over the San Diego Padres, who lost 2-1 at home to the Cincinnati Reds. Betts went four for five with five RBIs, capped by his seventh career slam on a 3-0 pitch from reliever Anthony Molina to make it 8-0. Andy Pages and
SWEDEN BEATEN: Goals in the first half by Elvis Rexhbecaj and Vedat Muriqi were enough to give Kosovo their second-ever win in World Cup qualifying Sandro Tonali’s last-gasp winner on Monday edged Italy to a 5-4 victory over Israel in FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifying, while Kosovo beat Sweden despite Alexander Isak making his first appearance of the season. After collapsing from leading 4-2 in the final two minutes to drawing 4-4, Tonali’s 91st-minute strike in the Hungarian city of Debrecen sent Italy above Israel and into the playoff spot in Group I. New coach Gennaro Gattuso’s side trail leaders Norway by three points and still have a chance of taking first place and the group’s sole direct qualifying spot as they seek to avoid missing out
RSS