Taiwan’s Chan sisters advanced to the doubles final at the Hong Kong Open yesterday, while top seed and world No. 1 Angelique Kerber fell to a shock defeat in the quarter-finals of the singles.
Top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan eased through the first set of their semi-final against fourth-seeded Japanese duo Shuko Aoyama and Makoto Ninomiya, but then had to rally from 5-1 down in the second before completing a 6-2, 7-6 (9/7) victory in 1 hour, 27 minutes.
The Taiwanese sisters, who failed to convert a match point at 6-5 in the second set and survived a set point against them in the tiebreak when Aoyama double-faulted, saved two of six break points and converted six of eight, winning 72 of the 132 points contested to advance to tomorrow’s final against either British duo Naomi Broady and Heather Watson or Nao Hibino of Japan and Aleksandrina Naydenova of Bulgaria, who are due to play their semi-final today.
Photo: AFP
In the singles, Kerber’s chances of finishing the year with the No. 1 ranking were dented when she fell to a shock 6-3, 6-1 defeat to eighth seed Daria Gavrilova of Australia in 1 hour, 14 minutes.
Also advancing were fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki, who defeated Wang Qiang 6-3, 7-5, and Kristina Mladenovic, who ousted Bethanie Mattek-Sands 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).
Champagne corks often pop and loud, boisterous cheers are usually heard around Constitution Dock when the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honors winner finishes in the Tasmanian state capital. There were no such celebrations this year when the defending champions on board LawConnect won the race in the early hours of yesterday morning, as it came about 24 hours after two sailors died on separate boats in sail boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the race. LawConnect, a 100-foot super maxi skippered by Australian tech millionaire Christian Beck, sailed up the River Derwent at just after 2:30am.
‘BOWLINE’ AND ‘ARCTOS’: Roy Quaden was hit on the head by a boom, while Nick Smith was struck by the main sheet and thrown across the boat amid rough seas Two sailors have been killed in separate incidents in the treacherous Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, officials said yesterday, as a string of yachts retired in powerful winds and high seas. One of the crew members, 55-year-old Roy Quaden on Flying Fish Arctos, was hit on the head by a boom as the fleet raced down the New South Wales coast, race organizers said. The other man, 65-year-old Nick Smith, was struck by the main sheet aboard Bowline and thrown across the boat, said David Jacobs, vice commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. “Unfortunately, he hit his head on the winch, and
Liverpool on Thursday powered seven points clear at the top of the Premier League as the title favorites survived a scare in their 3-1 win against Leicester City, while Bruno Fernandes was sent off in Manchester United’s dismal 2-0 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Erling Haaland missed a penalty as crisis-torn Manchester City failed to end their dismal run with a 1-1 draw against Everton, but it was United’s travails and Liverpool’s remarkable run that took center-stage. Arne Slot’s side were shocked by Jordan Ayew’s early strike at Anfield, but the leaders recovered their composure to equalize just before the interval through Cody
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
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