Taiwan’s tennis stars had a day to forget at the US Open on Thursday as they failed to win a match between them in singles and doubles competitions.
In the women’s singles Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) proved no match for No. 19 seed Nadia Petrova, who won in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. The Russian dominated the match, wrapping things up in only 67 minutes.
More disappointing was Chan Yung-jan’s (詹詠然) tame exit at the hands of world No. 60 Timea Bacsinszky. The Swiss teen won 6-3, 6-2, despite serving up eight double faults. The day after crashing out of the women’s doubles, Chan failed to win any of her four break points as she went down in 84 minutes.
PHOTO: AP
Lu Yen-hsun’s (盧彥勳) exit from the men’s singles was perhaps the most disappointing result, losing to Italian qualifier Flavio Cipolla. After making a disastrous start by winning only one game in the first set, Lu recovered to take the second 6-4. The third set went to a tie-breaker which the world No. 142 from Rome claimed 7-2 before wrapping things up by winning the fourth set 6-4.
It was a far cry from Lu’s gutsy run at the Beijing Olympics as clay court specialist Cipolla, ranked 69 places behind the man from Taipei, earned himself a third round clash with Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.
Later in the day Lu and Jim Thomas of the US lost to No.1 seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in the men’s doubles.
Chan and Hsieh also suffered doubles defeats. Chan and Austrian Jualian Knowle, seeded four in the mixed doubles, were thrashed 6-3, 6-1 by Aussie pair Casey Dellacqua and Jordan Kerr in only 51 minutes.
Hsieh and Rika Fujiwari of Japan lost in straight sets to Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual and Anabel Medina Garrigues in the women’s doubles putting up a decent fight before going down 7-6, 6-4 to the No. 5 seeds.
Taiwanese hopes of glory in New York now rest with Chuang Chia-jung (莊佳容) who has teamed up with Canada’s Daniel Nestor in the mixed doubles. The No. 1 seeds were due to play US pair Sloane Stevens and Robert Kendrick in the first round yesterday.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later