Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan beat Italy’s Mara Santangelo in three sets yesterday to reach the second round of the Hansol Korea Open in Seoul.
In the first set Santangelo showed some of the form that earned her a career-high world ranking of 27 last year before a succession of injuries helped send it plummeting to 179.
She won the first set easily, only dropping one game, before Chan fought back to take the second set 6-3. The Taiwanese world No. 59 then claimed the deciding set 6-4 to continue her good recent form, having reached the quarter-finals in Bali earlier this month before losing to Daniela Hantuchova.
Other winners at the US$145,000 hardcourt tournament in Seoul yesterday were No. 1 seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia who beat Slovakia’s Lenka Wienerova 6-2, 6-0, and third seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia who defeated Rika Fujiwara of Japan 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-0.
Two seeds crashed out of the tournament yesterday. Czech Klara Zakopalova defeated Spanish No. 4 seed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-7(3/7), 6-4 and Samantha Stosur of Australia thrashed Marina Erakovic of New Zealand in straight sets. The Aussie won the first set 6-2 before claiming the second without losing a game to send the No. 7 seed packing.
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
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