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).
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