Taiwan yesterday rallied from a 1-0 deficit to win their third straight Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Group I round-robin match and finish top of Pool B in Hua Hin, Thailand, setting up a final against Japan today for a place in the World Group II playoffs in April.
Following their 2-1 victories over China and Kazakhstan earlier this week, Taiwan needed to beat bottom-of-the-pool South Korea to ensure they topped Pool B yesterday, but they did not get off to their customary good start.
World No. 156 Chang Kai-chen, who had won both of her previous singles rubbers at the tournament against higher-ranked opponents, suffered her first defeat, falling to a tight 7-6 (7/1), 6-4 loss to world No. 242 Han Na-lae in the first singles rubber at the True Arena Hua Hin.
Photo courtesy of the Siwei Foundation
However, world No. 82 Hsieh Su-wei bounced back from her defeat to Kakazhstan’s Zarina Diyas on Thursday to tie the match in the second singles rubber, defeating world No. 190 Jang Su-jeong 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 in 1 hour, 52 minutes.
Taiwanese No. 1 Hsieh saved eight of 14 break points and converted eight of 12, winning 81 of the 150 points contested.
With China beating a second-string Kazakhstan 3-0 in their final pool match, Taiwan needed sisters Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan to win the deciding doubles rubber to ensure they would feature in today’s final.
Photo courtesy of the Siwei Foundation
The Chan sisters, 11th and 10th in the WTA Tour doubles rankings, duly completed a third straight 2-1 victory by downing Han and Jang 6-3, 7-5 in 1 hour, 43 minutes.
The Taiwanese duo saved six of eight break points and converted four of 11, winning 87 of the 157 points contested.
The victory saw Taiwan advance to a final today against Japan, who won Pool A after a 2-1 victory over hosts Thailand in their final round-robin match yesterday.
Taiwan will be confident they can upset favorites Japan, having advanced unbeaten from arguably the toughest of the two pools, and seal a spot in the World Group II playoffs in April.
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
Zach LaVine on Thursday scored a season-high 36 points to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 117-108 upset victory against defending NBA champions the Boston Celtics, while LeBron James once again made history. LaVine went 11-of-19 from the floor and made six three-pointers while adding six rebounds and four assists for the Bulls, who improved to 13-15 for the season. “We’re a good team,” LaVine said. “We’re competitive and we’re a resilient group.” Ayo Dosunmu contributed 17 points for the Bulls, while Nikola Vucevic had 16 points and 14 rebounds for Chicago. The Bulls outscored Boston 35-22 in the fourth quarter to rally past
Brimin Kipkorir of Kenya and Amid Fozya Jemal of Ethiopia won the men’s and the women’s categories, respectively, in the annual Taipei Marathon yesterday, which drew about 28,000 participants. Kipkorir finished the 42.2km run in 2 hours, 11 minutes and 41 seconds, which was about 2.5 minutes off the event’s record of 2:09:18 set by his countryman Paul Lonyongata in 2020. Meanwhile, Jemal — who also won the New Taipei Wan Jin Shi Marathon in March — finished with a first-place time of 2:32:47, about seven minutes behind the race’s women’s record of 2:25:55. For winning the race, Kipkorir and
RSS