Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the quarter-finals of the singles at the Prague Open on Wednesday, but crashed out in the quarter-finals of the doubles later in the day along with fellow Taiwanese Chuang Chia-jung and Chan Chin-wei.
In the second round of the singles, Taiwanese No. 1 Hsieh rallied after to losing the second set to oust 18-year-old Croatian Ana Konjuh 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 in 1 hour, 37 minutes.
The Kaohsiung-born world No. 78 saved 10 of 13 break points and converted four of eight, winning 82 of the 159 points contested to advance to a quarter-final against Lucie Safarova, who advanced when fellow Czech Lucie Hradecka retired with a neck injury with the second seed leading 6-4, 2-0.
“Obviously, it’s not the best feeling after the match to win like that, but I think I played really well in the first set, served really well — there was a key moment at 5-4 when I was down 40-0 and aced her three times,” world No. 16 Safarova told the WTA Web site. “Overall, I’m happy with my game and ready for the next one.”
Safarova won her only previous meeting with the Taiwanese No. 1 6-2, 6-3 in the second round at Wimbledon last year.
Also advancing to the quarter-finals on a bitterly cold Wednesday afternoon was top-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, who rallied from a set down to oust Madison Brengle of the US 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in 2 hours, 8 minutes.
“Yesterday was really hard and today as well,” Kuznetsova said. “It looks like it’s warmer, but it’s not — thankfully it wasn’t snowing. Today I put the heat cream on and almost all the clothes I have with me.”
The cold conditions affected the Russian world No. 13 and it was not until the latter stages that she began to impress.
“It’s difficult, especially on the clay, because I like when the ball bounces high and here it doesn’t bounce at all,” she said. “It was a little bit ugly, but sometimes you need to win ugly matches, especially for me. In the first set I didn’t really play my game. I was struggling to move and when I don’t move my game is a little bit off.”
Kuznetsova was next due to face Monica Puig of Puerto Rico, who defeated Czech lucky loser Barbora Krejcikova 6-4, 6-4.
Also advancing to the quarter-finals were Czech third seed Karolina Pilskova, Australian fourth seed Samantha Stosur, Czech fifth seed Barbora Strycova and Camila Giorgi of Italy.
In the quarter-finals of the doubles, Hsieh and Ysaline Bonaventure of Belgium fell to a 6-1, 6-4 defeat to top-seeded US duo Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears in 68 minutes; third seeds Chuang and Darija Durak of Croatia were ousted 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 by Maria Irigoyen of Argentina and Paula Kania of Poland in 1 hour, 26 minutes; and second seeds Margarita Gasparyan of Russia and Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic rallied from a set down to defeat Chan and Klaudia Jans-Ignacik of Poland 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 in 1 hour, 27 minutes..
GRAND PRIX SAR
AP, RABAT
Top seed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland overcame five breaks of serve to beat Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 and reach the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix SAR on Wednesday.
World No. 15 Bacsinszky was next due to play Johanna Larsson of Sweden, who beat Teliana Pereira of Brazil 6-4, 6-4.
Qualifier Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia, the world No. 123, upset second seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-2, 6-2, while another qualifier — Marina Erakovic of New Zealand — led 6-4 against seventh seed Lesia Tsurenko when the Ukrainian retired.
Fifth seed Timea Babos of Hungary beat Britain’s Laura Robson 6-1, 6-2 and eighth seed Yulia Putintseva joined her in the last eight with a 6-0, 6-2 win against Germany’s Tatjana Maria.
Kiki Bertens, the 2012 champion, and Pauline Parmentier also progressed to the quarter-finals.
Taiwan won a back-and-forth match at the Unions Cup in Singapore yesterday, but the hosts claimed the trophy due to a better points differential over the tournament. Singapore’s players celebrated with the cup, despite losing a match in which they seized the lead three times, but ultimately fell to a 19-16 defeat. Their points advantage was due to their strong opening game against the other team in the competition, Thailand, who they beat 30-8 on Saturday last week. Taiwan narrowly lost to Thailand on Tuesday and went into yesterday’s match facing a steep challenge. They responded well, opening the game with sustained pressure
A buzz of excitement crackled through the hushed arena as the rider gripped the reins of her stuffed steed. Welcome to the strangely exacting world of hobby-horsing, the Finnish sport guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Immaculately coiffed equestrians leap athletically over fences just like in horse jumping, going as fast as they can against the clock straddling their stick steeds. Things are more stately in the dressage, with riders trotting their stick horses with intricately decorated stuffed heads before the discerning eyes of the judges. About 260 riders from 22 countries — most women and girls aged 10 to 20 —
Taiwan’s men’s national basketball team is set to upgrade its depth in the paint after signing Brandon Gilbeck of the P.League+’s Formosa Dreamers to a naturalized player’s contract. The 27-year-old big man from the US landed in Taoyuan early on Monday, where he was welcomed by Chinese Taipei Basketball Association deputy secretary-general Chang Cheng-chung. The two signed the deal, which still has to be approved by the Sports Administration and the Ministry of the Interior. Chang said he is confident that “the proceedings would go smoothly.” If approved, Gilbeck would become the third naturalized basketball player in Taiwan, following the New Taipei Kings’ Quincy
Luka Doncic fouled an opponent to try to get the ball back with Slovenia up by 27 points in the final seconds. Goga Bitadze tried to ensure that Georgia — his own team — would not win in regulation by attempting to score in an opponent’s basket as time was expiring. On the other hand, the Philippines, down by three as time was running out in its game, had no interest in trying to win. And here is the thing: All those plays made a lot of sense. Tiebreaker scenarios in the Olympic qualifying tournament games on Thursday led to some rather