Top seeded Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan won their seventh doubles title with a 2-6, 7-5, 10-4 victory over Eva Hrdinova and Vladimira Uhlirova of the Czech Republic in the final of the East West Bank Classic in Carson, California, on Sunday.
It is expected that the win will make Chuang’s and Chan’s WTA rankings jump to No. 7 and No. 8 respectively. The pair will share a prize of US$60,000 and have secured a chance to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
With the full support of Taiwanese fans, Chan and Chuang accomplished what they called an “impossible mission,” defeating Hrdinova and Uhlirova after a lengthy match.
PHOTO: AFP
After winning a set each, the Taiwanese pair rallied in the tiebreaker to finish off the Czechs with five points in a row.
Suffering a cold before the match, Chan was quoted as saying: “In the beginning it was a little turning on our body since we did not sleep enough. It took a little bit of time for our [bodies] to wake up. There were a lot of Chinese/Taiwanese [fans] that showed up for us and we wanted to fight for them.”
In singles play, Dinara Safina of Russia won her second title of the year, sweeping aside Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-4, 6-2 in the final.
The 22-year-old Safina closed out her 70-minute match with a crosscourt backhand return for her sixth straight service break.
Safina was the third player this year to win a tournament after facing a match point.
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