Taiwanese No. 1 Hsieh Su-wei survived a scare to advance to the second round of the singles at the Korea Open in Seoul yesterday, before teaming up with younger sister Hsieh Shu-ying to advance to the quarter-finals of the doubles.
Hsieh, who claimed her third career singles title at the Japan Women’s Open in Hiroshima on Sunday, had to fight back from a set down to overcome Swiss qualifier Jil Teichmann 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/0) in 2 hours, 12 minutes.
The Taiwanese sixth seed, who rose to No. 29 in the world rankings following her victory in Japan, saved 13 of 16 break points and converted three of nine, winning 110 of the 209 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with another Swiss, Stefanie Voegele, who ousted South Korean wild-card Choi Jee-hi 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 on Monday.
Photo: AFP
Hsieh then returned to the hard courts alongside her sister in the first round of the doubles as they took 74 minutes to defeat Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek 6-4, 6-4.
The Taiwanese sisters saved four of eight break points and converted six of eight, winning 61 of the 117 points contested.
In the other first-round singles matches, Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland progressed with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US; Romanian seventh seed Irina-Camelia Begu defeated German qualifier Mona Barthel 7-5, 6-4; Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova shocked world No. 68 Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-1, 6-2; and Australian Ajla Tomljanovic rallied from a set down to upset Belgian fifth seed Alison van Uytvanck 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.
Australian qualifier Priscilla Hon and Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic also bounced back from losing their opening sets before recovering to oust South Koreans Jang Su-jeong and Han Na-lae respectively.
Japanese badminton star Chiharu Shida on Tuesday told Chinese fans to “stop stalking” her, adding that she was “very scared” by the unwanted attention. Shida, who won women’s doubles bronze at the Paris Olympics last year, has a strong following in China partly because of her engagement with the local culture. The 27-year-old, currently competing at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, has been dubbed the “Badminton Goddess” by fans and media. She hit out at some supporters on Tuesday, accusing them in an Instagram post of taking their fandom too far. “Every time we compete in China we always experience the harm
Two people died on Thursday after fans and police clashed outside the Estadio Monumental in Santiago ahead of a game in South America’s Copa Libertadores, Chilean authorities said. The fatalities happened shortly before the match between Chile’s Colo-Colo and Brazilian club Fortaleza, when police blocked about 100 fans when they attempted to enter the stadium. There were conflicting accounts of how the fatalities occurred, with local media reporting that one of the dead was a 13-year-old boy. The other victim was an 18-year-old woman, according to a relative at the hospital where she was treated. The fans died after being caught underneath a
A potential European league could be a gold mine for the NBA as the top-flight North American league looks to muscle its way into a deep pool of talent across the Atlantic Ocean. The NBA is exploring the launch of a European league with world basketball governing body FIBA as a partner, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last week, with an eye toward a 16-team format made up of 12 permanent clubs and four qualifiers. The continent’s longstanding Euroleague quickly signaled its readiness to enter into talks with the NBA, even as it has balked at the idea of another league in
Hans Niemann, the chess grand master at the heart of an alleged cheating scandal, has yet to provide an explanation on his late withdrawal from the Freestyle Grand Slam in Paris. Niemann, who was accused of cheating by world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in 2023 before the matter was settled outside court, received a wild card for the event, but informed organizers he was pulling out for “personal reasons” less than 48 hours before the start of the 12-player tournament. “I texted him on Friday at 7pm. I said: ‘Hans, we’re already here. Are you here as well?’ And he read the
RSS