Lu Yen-hsun faces an uphill battle to progress at the French Open tennis championships which start today.
On paper, Taiwan’s sole representative in the singles tournaments at the second Grand Slam event of the year has been given a relatively kind first-round draw against world No. 125 Mathieu Montcourt.
However, the clay courts in Paris are an alien surface to the world No. 66, whose sole previous appearance at Roland Garros ended in a first-round defeat in 2007.
PHOTO: EPA
Lu has only two matches on clay under his belt this year, both ending in losses, the latest when he was unable to complete his match against Agustin Calleri at the Austrian Open a couple of weeks ago.
This was the latest example of a worrying trend for the 25-year-old who also missed a Davis Cup tie against Kazakhstan earlier this year through injury and was forced to retire from a match against Marco Chiudinelli with a back problem at a Challenger event in Tenerife, Spain, earlier this month.
Assuming Lu is able to complete the match in one piece, he’ll find the man on the other side of the net no pushover, despite having beaten him in straight sets in January at an indoor Challenger in Heilbronn, Germany.
Although Montcourt had to play in the qualifying tournament because of his lowly ranking, the Frenchman has twice reached the second round in Paris, most recently in 2007. He also reached the final of the clay court Challenger tournament in Bordeaux earlier this month.
Montcourt hit the headlines last year when he was suspended for five weeks for betting on matches. The Court of Arbitration for Sport found the Frenchman had bet a total of US$192 on 36 tennis events, though not on his own matches or at tournaments in which he was playing.
Taiwan’s three participants in last week’s singles qualifying tournaments all failed to reach the main draw.
In the men’s competition, last year’s junior singles champion, Yang Tsung-hua, found the step up to the senior ranks a tough one. Although he beat Spain’s Marc Lopez in the first round, he lost to another Spaniard, Santiago Ventura, in round two.
In the women’s tournament, Hsieh Su-wei suffered a first-round defeat by Youlia Fedossova of France, while Chan Chin-wei was another first-round casualty, losing to Neuza Silva of Portugal.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
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
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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