Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Rohan Bopanna of India rallied from a set down to advance to the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles at the Australian Open yesterday, but it was a day that saw Hsieh Su-wei crash out of both the women’s doubles and the mixed doubles at Melbourne Park.
Third seeds Chan and Bopanna had to fight back from a set down against Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic and Lucasz Kubot of Poland to complete a 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 victory in 70 minutes on Show Court 3.
The Taiwanese-Indian duo saved two of four break points and converted two of five, winning 65 of the 123 points contested to advance to a quarter-final against Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Treat Huey of the Philippines, who edged Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.
Photo: EPA
Next up for Taiwan’s Chan is a women’s doubles quarter-final with her younger sister, Chan Hao-ching, at 8am Taiwan time today.
The second-seeded sisters are due to take on seventh-seeded Czech pairing Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka on Show Court 3, which has become a home-away-from-home for Taiwanese players at Melbourne Park over the past few days.
It was not such a good day for Taiwan’s Hsieh, who crashed out of both the women’s doubles and the mixed doubles.
Hsieh and Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia crashed to a 6-2, 6-4 defeat to 15th-seeded Chinese duo Xu Yi-fan and Zheng Saisai in the third round of the women’s doubles at Hisense Arena yesterday morning.
Hsieh returned on Show Court 3 in the mixed doubles later yesterday alongside Alexander Peya, but she could not make up for her earlier disappointment as the Taiwanese-Austrian duo fell to a 6-2, 6-3 defeat to fifth seeds Elena Vesnina of Russia and Bruno Soares of Brazil in exactly an hour.
Two nights after his father-in-law was rushed to the hospital, four-time finalist Andy Murray put personal distractions aside long enough to beat Bernard Tomic and advance to the men’s singles quarter-finals.
An agitated Murray yelled and berated himself, and had trouble at times before winning 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) in a scrappy game against the last Australian in the draw.
Next for Murray is to be No. 8 David Ferrer, a two-time semi-finalist, who held off No. 10 John Isner 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.
Milos Raonic persevered with his serve-and-volley game plan and withstood a strong comeback from 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka, advancing to the quarter-finals 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-3. French Open champion Wawrinka was the only man to beat top-ranked Novak Djokovic in a Grand Slam match last year — the final at Roland Garros — and the last man to beat him at Melbourne Park after 2010.
Raonic lost to Djokovic in the Australian Open quarter-finals last year. This year, he is to face No. 23 Gael Monfils, who reached the last eight in Australia for the first time in 11 trips with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) win over Andrei Kuznetsov.
Before the quarter-finals, Murray said he would try to relax — which might be more difficult than usual considering his wife, Kim, is expecting their first child next month. The two-time major winner said he would be ready to leave the tournament at any moment if needed in Britain.
Kim’s father, Nigel Sears, was working in Australia as a coach for Ana Ivanovic when he fell ill and needed medical treatment in the stands at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night. He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and stayed overnight, but has been released.
Murray and Ivanovic, who lost to Madison Keys, were playing at the same time, Murray on nearby Margaret Court Arena.
Keys was eliminated yesterday, after Zhang Shuai of China defeated her 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Zhang is to play Johanna Konta, who had a 4-6, 6-4, 8-6 win over Ekaterina Makarova, who made it to the semi-finals last year, and became the first British woman since Jo Durie in 1983 to advance to the quarter-finals in Australia.
In earlier matches, two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Barbora Strycova 6-2, 6-4. A growing favorite for the title in a strong comeback from two injury-interrupted seasons, Azarenka next faces No. 7 Angelique Kerber, who beat fellow German Annika Beck 6-4, 6-0.
Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday exited at the BWF World Tour Finals in China, losing in the semi-finals to China’s world No. 1 Shi Yuqi. Shi, who was named the BWF Men’s Singles Player of the Year, had a 9-4 record against Chou going into the match. He extended that record to 9-5 with a 21-14, 21-18 victory. Chou advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals on Friday by upsetting top-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a must-win match at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. The 16-21, 21-18, 21-15 victory saw Chou secure his second semi-finals appearance at the tournament, despite his relatively older
BOOT TO FACE: Wilfried Singo said that his actions were not intentional, ‘but I was able to see afterwards that’ the ’keeper had a significant face injury Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday came from behind to extend their unbeaten start to the Ligue 1 season with a 4-2 win away against AS Monaco, but lost goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to a gruesome facial injury. The bloodied Italy international was left requiring 10 staples after sustaining lacerations to the right side of his face when he was caught by the studs of Monaco defender Wilfried Singo. “I don’t know if the referee was badly positioned, but VAR [video assistant referee] needed to intervene, you have to protect the players,” PSG captain Marquinhos said. “To not give a red in a situation like
India’s chess star Gukesh Dommaraju returned to a hero’s welcome in his home city yesterday after becoming the youngest world champion aged only 18. Hundreds of fans crowded the arrivals area of Chennai International Airport, cheering alongside banks of television cameras as Gukesh made his way out of the airport after victory in taking the World Chess Championship title. “It means a lot to bring back the trophy to India,” Gukesh told reporters, with garlands of flowers draped around his neck, brandishing the glittering trophy in his hand. “I can see the support and what it means to India, I
Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Friday joined Max Verstappen on stage when the Red Bull driver collected the Formula One champion’s trophy for the fourth year in a row at a ceremony held in Africa for the first time. The 27-year-old was handed the trophy by International Automobile Federation president Mohammed Ben Sulayem alongside Kagame, who had earlier spoken at the gala in Kigali of Rwanda bidding to host a race. Verstappen, who is one of only six drivers to have won four or more titles since the championship started in 1950, said he was proud of his season and everyone in
RSS