Chan Yung-jan and Hsieh Su-wei set up a Taiwanese showdown in the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles at the US Open on Saturday, while their compatriot -Chuang Chia-jung crashed out of the second round of the women’s doubles at Flushing Meadows in New York.
On Court 7 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, second seeds Chan and Rohan Bopanna rallied from a set down to oust Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Alexander Peya of Austria 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the second round of the mixed doubles.
The Taiwanese-Indian duo failed to save the only break point they faced, but converted one of three, winning 60 of the 114 points contested in 1 hour, 1 minute.
Photo: AP
Chan and Bopanna next face Hsieh and Henri Kontinen, who advanced to the quarter-finals in 1 hour, 11 minutes with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over US duo Sachia Vickery and Frances Tiafoe on Court 5.
The Taiwanese-Finnish pairing failed to save all three break points they faced, but converted five of nine, winning 70 of the 130 points contested to set up the Taiwanese showdown in the last eight.
Earlier on Court 5 in the second round of the women’s doubles, Chuang and Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland were crushed 6-1, 6-1 by top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza in just one hour.
Photo: Facebook
Chuang and Bacsinszky failed to convert any of the three break points they created, with the Swiss-Indian duo converting five of seven, winning 62 of the 100 points contested to set up a third-round clash with 13th seeds Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic, who defeated Vania King of the US and Zheng Saisai of China 6-3, 6-4.
Taiwan’s remaining hopes in the women’s doubles in the second week of the final Grand Slam of the season rest with sisters Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan. The ninth seeds were due to take on Romanian pairing Irina-Camelia Begu and Raluca Olaru in the third round yesterday.
In the singles, Roger Federer defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber for the 10th time to reach the last 16, while Canadian golden girl Eugenie Bouchard suffered a potentially tournament-ending head injury.
Five-time champion and world No. 2 Federer claimed a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over his 29th-ranked German opponent.
The 34-year-old Swiss star, hoping to become the oldest champion since Ken Rosewall in 1970, is to next face US 13th seed John Isner, who progressed after Czech opponent Jiri Vesely retired with a neck injury after dropping the first two sets.
Bouchard was facing a battle to make her scheduled last-16 clash with Italy’s Roberto Vinci yesterday after injuring her head in a freak fall in the women’s locker room on Friday.
The 21-year-old Canadian star withdrew from the women’s and mixed doubles tournament on medical advice.
“The severity of the injury was and continues to be assessed by the on-site medical personnel at the US Open,” tournament director David Brewer said.
Federer has now reached the fourth round in New York for the 15th year as he looks to return to the final for the first time since 2009.
His win was only marred by him dropping serve for the first time since Wimbledon.
“I won the big points today, I served well when I had to, even though it was up and down for both of us,” said Federer, who is to take a 4-1 career lead over Isner into their fourth-round clash.
Two-time runner-up Victoria Azarenka, the 20th seed, triumphed over 11th-seeded German Angelique Kerber in an Arthur Ashe Stadium thriller lasting almost three hours.
Azarenka, whose season has been blighted by a left thigh injury, won 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 on a sixth match point having trailed 2-5 in the first set.
The 26-year-old took her record over Kerber to 5-0 on the back of 51 winners to her opponent’s 46 in a merciless contest of big-hitting.
Both players saved a combined 26 break points before the Belarusian prevailed to set-up a last-16 clash with America’s Varvara Lepchenko.
Fifth seed Stan Wawrinka, the French Open champion, made the last 16 with a 6-3, 7-6(7/5), 6-4 win over Belgian world No. 107 Rubens Bemmelmans.
Wawrinka goes on to face unseeded American Donald Young, who pulled off his second comeback from two sets to love down at the tournament to beat Serbian 22nd seed Viktor Troicki 4-6, 0-6, 7-6(7/3), 6-2, 6-4.
Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych, a semi-finalist in 2012, reached the last 16 for a fourth successive year by beating Spain’s Guillermo Garcma-Lopez 6-7(2/7), 7-6(9/7), 6-3, 6-3.
He next plays 12th seed Richard Gasquet, one of four Frenchmen in the last 16, who defeated Australia’s Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-3, 6-1.
Andy Murray finally enjoyed a straight-forward win after two earlier battles to advance to the fourth round with a 6-3 6-2 7-5 victory over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci.
Two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, the Czech fifth seed, eased past Anna Karolmna Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-1.
She next faces British qualifier Johanna Konta, the world No. 97 who beat German 18th seed Andrea Petkovic 7-6(7/2), 6-3.
Samantha Stosur, the 2011 champion and the last woman to beat Serena Williams at the tournament, battled past Italy’s Sara Errani 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.
Next for Stosur is another Italian, 26th seed Flavia Pennetta, a 2013 semi-finalist, who put out world No. 149 Petra Cetkovska 1-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Second-seeded Romanian Simona Halep worked the night shift for the first time at the US Open and found it to her liking as she steamed past American qualifier Shelby Rogers 6-2, 6-3 to reach the fourth round.
Tallon Griekspoor on Friday stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in the second round at Indian Wells, avenging a devastating loss to the German at Roland Garros last year. Zverev, the world No. 2 who is heading the field of the prestigious ATP Masters event with No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month drugs ban, is the first Indian Wells men’s top seed to lose his opening match since Andy Murray in 2017. It was a cherished win for Griekspoor, who had lost five straight matches — including four last year — to the German. That included a five-setter
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Manchester United on Thursday settled for a 1-1 draw with Real Sociedad in the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 tie. United led on Joshua Zirkzee’s goal in the 58th minute, but the hosts equalized 12 minutes later after Bruno Fernandes’ hand ball and Mikel Oyarzabal sent Andre Onana the wrong way from the penalty spot. The Europa League could be a way for United to finish the season with a trophy after crashing out of the FA Cup on Sunday. A spot in the quarter-finals is to be on the line at Old Trafford in the second leg on Thursday next
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
RSS