Three Taiwanese players take to the courts in the singles competitions at the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, the US Open, which starts today in New York.
Fresh from his defeat of British world No. 6 Andy Murray at the Beijing Olympics, Lu Yen-hsun faces Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador first up in the men’s tournament.
Lapentti is ranked at a respectable 66th in the world, only seven places ahead of Lu, so a close contest is on the cards.
The 32-year-old Ecuadorean has the edge in terms of experience, having played at Flushing Meadows 10 times. Lu by contrast has only one appearance under his belt, a first round exit in 2004, but Lapentti has never done particularly well in New York, his best performance an appearance in the third round in 2001.
In the women’s singles Chan Yung-jan and Hsieh Su-wei are flying the flag for Taiwan and both face Russian opponents in the first round.
Hsieh takes on 19-year old Evgeniya Rodina having earned the clash after sailing through last week’s qualification tournament without dropping a set. She beat Silvia Soler Espinosa of Spain 6-0, 6-4 in the first round and Madison Brengle of the US 6-4, 6-3 in the second round. The Kaohsiung-born 22-year-old booked her place in the main draw by downing Kristina Barrois of Germany 6-4, 6-1 in her final qualifying match.
Hsieh will be hoping to emulate her run at the Australian Open earlier this year where, after negotiating qualifying, she went on to reach the fourth round before becoming the last woman to lose to Justine Henin in a Grand Slam before the Belgian’s unexpected retirement.
Nevertheless, Hsieh’s performance saw her become the first woman from Taiwan to progress so far in the singles at a Grand Slam.
Hsieh may be able to give her compatriot a few tips on her opponent, Alla Kudryavtseva, who is her doubles partner. Either way Chan has cause to be reasonably confident of progressing into round two against a player 19 places below her in the world rankings. Chan’s ranking of 70 allowed her to automatically qualify for the main draw, unlike Hsieh, and she has three previous appearances in New York under her belt to her opponent’s one, despite the Russian being a year older.
Still, she can expect Kudryavtseva to put up a fight, as befits the daughter of a world champion Greco-Roman wrestler, and any complacency would be misplaced against an opponent who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon this year, accounting for Maria Sharapova on the way.
Chan will have fond memories of Flushing Meadows after reaching the final of the women’s doubles last year with Chuang Chia-jung and will be hoping they can go one step further this year by claiming Taiwan’s first ever Grand Slam title.
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