The Chan sisters on Sunday claimed their second doubles title of the season at the typhoon-affected Hong Kong Open, while Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova came from behind to win a marathon singles final 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) against Daria Gavrilova in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Top seeds and reigning champions Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan took just 47 minutes to complete a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Chinese duo Lu Jiajing and Wang Qiang at the Victoria Park Tennis Stadium.
The Taiwanese sisters saved the only break point they faced and converted five of eight, winning 51 of the 78 points contested to add the Hong Kong title to the Taiwan Open title they won at the Taipei Arena in February.
Photo: screen grab from Facebook
It was world No. 2 Chan Yung-jan’s 11th doubles title of the season after the Taiwanese and Swiss world No. 1 Martina Hingis claimed the titles in Eastbourne, Mallorca, Rome, Madrid, Indian Wells, Cincinnati, the US Open, Wuhan and Beijing, taking her prize money for the season to just short of US$1.4 million.
Earlier on Sunday, Typhoon Khanun, packing winds of 155kph and heavy rain, had virtually shut down the territory, delaying the final which had originally been scheduled for a 2pm start.
The weather finally relented just after 7pm and typhoon warning signals were lowered across Hong Kong, but an initial attempt to start the final at 8:30pm was aborted when the rain returned.
The final eventually started at about 9:20pm.
In the singles, it was three minutes past 1am yesterday morning when sixth seed Pavlyuchenkova converted the third of her match points.
It enabled the world No. 21 to edge over the winning line after 3 hours, 11 minutes of attritional tennis against her Australian opponent punctuated by frequent rain delays.
Almost an hour earlier the Russian had spurned two championship points at 5-4 on her own serve, only to see another heavy shower send the players scurrying for cover, and Pavlyuchenkova only had herself to blame for not getting the job done earlier after racing into a 3-0 lead when the match eventually began after a near five-hour delay.
She failed to serve out for the first set at 5-3 after being in control almost throughout and saw gritty world No. 22 Gavrilova steal in 7-5 on the back of a run of three unanswered games.
“I’m just happy to finally finish this match in brutal conditions,” Pavlyuchenkova said after being presented with the trophy.
The second set was almost a carbon copy of the first, but this time the Russian managed to hold her nerve at 5-3 and took it to a decider against the seventh seed.
Both players had chances in the third set, but they remained deadlocked as tiredness set in and the clock ticked past midnight
Pavlyuchenkova then broke for 5-4, but once again failed to close out on her own serve.
After a 40-minute final rain delay the pair broke each other’s serve yet again and the match headed for the deciding tiebreak.
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
‘REMARKABLE’: Gaelic football is a traditional Irish sport that blends the skills of soccer and rugby, and hurling is an ancient sport played with a wooden stick and ‘sliotar’ The Taiwan Celts Gaelic Football Club marked a milestone achievement at the Asian Gaelic Games in Bangkok on Nov. 23 and 24, with two sides advancing to the knockout stages and competing at hurling for the first time. The event brought together 68 teams from 16 clubs across Asia, with more than 800 players in men’s and women’s tournaments. Gaelic football is a traditional Irish team sport that blends the skills of soccer, rugby union and basketball. Hurling is an ancient Irish sport played with a wooden stick, called a hurley, and a small ball, or sliotar. The Taiwan Celts’ women’s team reached
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
LIVERPOOL WIN: The 50th Champions League goal by Mohamed Salah helped the leaders of the Premier League to keep their perfect record intact Real Madrid’s big stars on Tuesday turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering UEFA Champions League title defense. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win against Serie A leaders Atalanta BC. However, Madrid still had to ride their luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage-time when handed a golden chance to level the game. It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champions in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. “It’s a very important win. Not everyone wins
RSS