Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic survived a second-set fightback in the early hours of yesterday morning to book a spot in the doubles semi-finals at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China, while the Chan sisters were on the verge of elimination after their second straight defeat.
Second seeds Hsieh and Strycova outlasted Czech sixth seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova 6-1, 1-6, 10-5 in 1 hour, 15 minutes in a match that began on Tuesday, but finished after midnight.
The victory gave them a 2-0 record in the Purple Group and saw them advance to Saturday’s semi-finals at the season-ending tournament.
The reigning Wimbledon champions saved five of eight break points and converted two of three, winning 74 percent of points on their first serve to claim top spot in the group after their 6-4, 4-6, 10-5 victory over Australian Open champions Samantha Stosur and Zhang Shuai on Sunday.
“It was a really tough match for us, but we played really good,” doubles world No. 1 Strycova told the WTA Web site. “We helped each other, and at the end we were maybe — I would not say lucky, but we played a better tiebreak.”
Hsieh and Strycova fired 10 winners and committed just two unforced errors to race through the opening set, but the Czech duo, who won two Grand Slam titles last year, rallied to take the second.
However, the second seeds fought back in the super tiebreak to set up four match points, converting the first when Krejcikova hit a return long.
“It was our goal to qualify here,” Strycova said. “We are here and try to enjoy every moment. We have a big team, so we enjoy on and off the court as well. It’s great to be here and we are really appreciative.”
In the Red Group later yesterday, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan fell to a 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 defeat to top seeds Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka in 1 hour, 48 minutes.
The Belgian-Belarussian duo also defeated the Taiwanese sisters on grass in the round-of-16 at Wimbledon earlier this year.
The defeat left the Chan sisters — winners this year in Hobart, Australia; Doha; Eastbourne, England; and Osaka, Japan — rooted to the bottom of the group and on the verge of elimination ahead of their final group match tomorrow against Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands.
In the singles yesterday, defending champion Elina Svitolina stormed into the penultimate stage after a commanding straight-sets victory over Simona Halep.
The world No. 8 took advantage of an error-strewn Halep and prevailed 7-5, 6-3 in 1 hour, 39 minutes at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre.
Svitolina is the first player through to the semi-finals, having also beaten world No. 2 Karolina Pliskova in straight sets on Monday.
Halep still has a chance of qualifying, having overcome US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in a three-set thriller in her opening match.
Svitolina had the better of long baseline rallies against an uncharacteristically errant Halep, who finished with 38 unforced errors.
“It was an extremely physical match,” Svitolina said after the match.
“I played very solid. I’m very happy about that,” she added.
In the later Purple Group match, Andreescu retired in the second set after losing the first 6-3 to Pliskova.
Taiwan’s participation in the Olympic Games has been a story of politics as much as sports, with the name it has competed under since 1984 — Chinese Taipei — drawing as much attention as its athletes. However, with the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad set to begin in Paris on Friday, the exploits of Taiwan’s athletes past and present who have won 36 medals since the country’s debut in Melbourne in 1956 deserve a nod. Many of Taiwan’s medal winners have gained considerable name recognition, but only two have achieved legendary status — Maysang Kalimud and Chi Cheng, the only medal winners
Shohei Ohtani on Sunday hit a 473-foot (144m) home run as the Los Angeles Dodgers went deep six times in a 9-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, Gavin Lux, Austin Barnes and Jason Heyward also connected as Los Angeles swept the three-game series. “Going into the break, we weren’t playing good baseball, and then to come out fresh against a really good ball club and to play the way we did — the offense came to life,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. It was the 25th time the Dodgers launched at least six homers in a game
Canada women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman on Wednesday said she would step away from the team’s opening game against New Zealand at the Paris Olympics in the wake of a drone scandal. New Zealand complained to the International Olympic Committee’s integrity unit after it said drones were flown over closed practice sessions earlier in the week. As of press time last night, Canada, the defending Olympic champions, were set to open the Paris Games against New Zealand in Saint-Etienne. In the fallout of the complaint, two staff members — assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi — were sent home, the
Conventional wisdom dictates that the average retirement age for elite female players in the intense and physically demanding sport of badminton is well under 30 years old. Five female shuttlers are set to turn that on its head when they make their fourth Olympic appearances at the Paris Games, a feat never accomplished before. Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying, 30, Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, 29, Belgium’s Lianne Tan, 33, and Hong Kong’s Tse Ying Suet and Canada’s Michelle Li, both 32, are to compete for Olympic glory at Porte de La Chapelle Arena from Saturday to Aug. 5. “These achievements get missed because they’re women,” said