The Chan sisters advanced to the second round of the women’s doubles at the US Open on Wednesday, but it was not such good news for fellow Taiwanese Chan Chin-wei, who crashed out of the first round at Flushing Meadows in New York.
Ninth seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan eased past Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania and Christina McHale of the US 6-2, 6-4 in 1 hour, 15 minutes on Court 10 at the final Grand Slam of the year.
The Taiwanese sisters saved one of four break points and converted six of 10, winning 61 of the 104 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with German duo Mona Barthel and Laura Siegemund, who defeated fellow German Sabine Lisicki and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
Photo: AP
On Court 14, Chan Chin-wei and Darija Jurak of Croatia, originally drawn against Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic before the second seeds withdrew, fell to a 6-3, 6-2 defeat to fifth seeds Caroline Garcia of France and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia.
Chan and Jurak failed to convert any of the three break points they created as their opponents converted three of four to complete the straight-sets victory in 1 hour, 12 minutes.
The remaining Taiwanese in the women’s doubles were due to open their campaigns yesterday, with Chuang Chia-jung and Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland due to face US pairing Melanie Oudin and Jessica Pegula, while 10th seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia were due to take on Eva Hrdinova of the Czech Republic and Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia.
Photo: Reuters
It was set to be a busy day for Hsieh, who was also due to open her mixed doubles campaign alongside Henri Kontinen of Finland later yesterday with a first-round clash against US duo Lauren Davis and Eric Butorac.
In the singles, world No. 1 Serena Williams shook off a woeful start to advance her quest for tennis history, while Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal joined her in the third round.
Williams, trying to complete the first calendar Grand Slam singles sweep since Steffi Graf in 1988, defeated world No. 110 Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium, despite 34 unforced errors and 10 double faults.
Photo: screen grab from Facebook
“I just kept fighting for each point, not for a lot, but just one at a time,” Williams said. “I had been pretty relaxed. Today, I was a little tight. I think it showed. Hopefully, I can get back to where I was before.”
The 33-year-old American, trying to match Graf’s Open Era record of 22 career Grand Slam singles titles and win an Open Era-record seventh US Open crown, improved to 50-2 on the year with her 30th Grand Slam win in a row and sustained her march toward history.
Spanish eighth seed Nadal, a 14-time Grand Slam champion, ousted Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 7-5 for his 750th career ATP Tour triumph, while world No. 1 Djokovic stayed on a last-eight collision course with Nadal by dispatching Austria’s Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.
The reigning Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, whose only US Open title came in 2011, won 14 of the final 17 games.
“From that four-all moment, I played really well,” Djokovic said.
Three-time defending champion Williams completed her second “Serena Slam” of four major wins in a row by winning the Wimbledon crown in July, becoming the oldest Grand Slam winner.
Williams broke back to level at 5-5 in the first set, but double-faulted four times in the 11th game before holding, then fell behind 4-0 in the tiebreak before rallying largely on Bertens’ unforced errors.
“It definitely doesn’t worry me, being down a lot,” Williams said. “I know I can make a comeback, make a run for it.”
However, her form was so shocking that Williams ran to the practice courts to work on serves after the match.
Next up for Williams is fellow American Mattek-Sands, who beat compatriot CoCo Vandeweghe 6-2, 6-1.
“I’ll have to play a little better if I want to win,” Williams said.
Nadal was down 5-4 in the first set tiebreaker before battling back against Schwartzman.
“Happy to be through,” Nadal said. “Was a tough battle. I feel lucky to be through... To take that first set was very important to me.”
Nadal, the 2010 and 2013 US Open champion, improved to 22-1 in his past 23 US Open matches after missing 2012 and last year due to injury and finishing as the 2011 runner-up.
Canadian 10th seed Milos Raonic, who could meet Nadal in the fourth round, fired 18 aces in dispatching Spain’s Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/1).
Defending champion Marin Cilic and seventh seed David Ferrer neared a fourth-round meeting as well.
Croatian ninth seed Cilic fired 19 aces in defeating Russian qualifier Evgeny Donskoy 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.
“It’s sort of unreal. I was working all my life to win a Grand Slam and now I’m working to defend one,” Cilic said.
Spain’s Ferrer, the 2013 French Open runner-up who missed the past two-and-a-half months with an elbow injury, downed world No. 102 Filip Krajinovic of Serbia 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4).
“I’m very happy I’m in the third round,” Ferrer said. “It’s a nice comeback playing on these courts.”
Williams could reach a Grand Slam singles final without facing a top-10 rival for the first time in her career, but her quarter-final foe could be 35-year-old sister Venus or 18-year-old Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, who inflicted Serena’s most recent defeat.
Bencic, the highest seed remaining in Serena Williams’ half of the draw at 12th, saved three match points in the second set and outlasted Japanese world No. 88 Misaki Doi 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
“I’m just happy I could turn it around,” Bencic said.
Bencic, who defeated Serena Williams in the Toronto semi-finals last month, next plays Venus Williams after the elder sister eliminated fellow American Irina Falconi 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-2.
“She played really well in the tiebreaker,” Venus Williams said. “In the third set I had a lot more clarity.”
Australian Open semi-finalist Madison Keys ripped world No. 100 Tereza Smitkova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2.
The American 19th seed is hoping for a fourth-round date with Serena Williams, who ousted her in Australia.
“Fingers crossed it could happen. If it does happen I could come out and have some fun at my home Slam,” Keys said.
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