Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen will play in both finals at the Jiangxi Women’s Tennis Open in Nanchang, China, today after she battled for almost three hours to overcome Lu Jiajing of China in their singles semi-final yesterday, a day after rallying from a set down to seal a spot in the doubles final.
The 24-year-old Taiwanese world No. 191, who reached a career-high 82nd in the rankings in 2010, had to come back from a set down on Center Court again yesterday, but she eventually prevailed 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/3) in a marathon semi-final at the Nanchang International Sports Center that lasted 2 hours, 50 minutes
Chang, who won the gold medal in the women’s singles at the Summer Universiade in South Korea on July 12, saved six of 14 break points and converted six of 17, winning 125 of the 247 points contested to edge Lu, who saved two match points at 5-6 in the third set, but could not prevent the Taiwanese from claiming the third-set tiebreaker at the WTA 125K tournament.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei Times
In today’s singles final, Chang faces an even tougher opponent, top seed and former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, after the Serbian world No. 25 cruised past Han Xinyun of China 6-1, 6-2 in 1 hour, 27 minutes in the second semi-final on Center Court.
On Friday night, Chang and Zheng Saisai of China advanced to today’s doubles final after rallying from a set down to defeat second-seeded Chinese duo Han Xinyun and Zhang Kailin 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 10-8.
The third-seeded cross-strait pairing saved one of four break points and converted four of 11, winning 85 of the 159 points contested to complete the hard-fought victory in 1 hour, 51 minutes on Center Court.
Taiwan is guaranteed a champion in Nanchang today after top seeds Chan Chin-wei of Taiwan and Wang Yafan of China comprehensively defeated Japanese duo Miyu Kato and Kotomi Takahata 6-2, 6-4 in yesterday’s second doubles semi-final, which was moved to Court 1.
The cross-strait pairing saved seven of eight break points and converted four of 10, winning 61 of the 106 points contested to complete the victory in 1 hour, 13 minutes.
BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC
World No. 1 Serena Williams has withdrawn from this week’s Bank of the West Classic because of an elbow injury she says must get “back to 100 percent.”
Williams expressed her disappointment and said: “The tournament is one of my favorites, and the fans have always been so generous and supportive of me.”
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
RSS