It was another disappointing day for the home crowd at the OEC Taipei WTA Challenger at the Taipei Arena yesterday as the top-ranked Taiwanese player crashed out of the singles.
The home players’ losing streak continued in the first round of the WTA 125K event yesterday, with Lee Ya-hsun losing 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 to seventh seed Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland in 1 hour, 33 minutes.
Voegele saved six of eight break points and converted three of three, winning 78 of the 149 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with Maria Sakkari of Greece, who defeated Thai qualifier Nicha Lertpitaksinchai 6-4, 6-3.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Lee was back on court later yesterday in the first round of the doubles with Chinese partner Liu Chang, but she could not provide the home fans with any cheer as they fell to a 6-4, 6-4 defeat to fourth seeds Amandine Hesse of France and Hiroko Kuwata of Japan.
Also crashing out of the first round of the singles yesterday was Taiwanese wild-card Hsu Chieh-yu, who went down 6-1, 6-7 (6/8), 6-2 to Zhang Ling of Hong Kong in 2 hours, 8 minutes.
Zhang saved all five break points she faced and converted four of 14 to advance to a second-round clash with top seed Misaki Doi, who defeated fellow Japanese Risa Ozaki 6-3, 7-5.
In yesterday’s other singles matches, third seed Evgeniya Rodina of Russia defeated China’s Lu Jia-jing 7-6 (7-5), 6-3; eighth seed Wang Yafan of China survived a second-set fightback by Japanese qualifier Kotomi Takahata to advance 6-2, 3-6, 6-2; China’s Zhang Yuxuan crushed Junri Namigata of Japan 6-0, 6-3; and Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm downed sixth seed Patricia Maria Tig of Romania 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.
Taiwan’s best chance of success this week would appear to rest with doubles second seeds Chan Chin-wei and Namigata, who are due to take on Taiwanese duo Lee Yang and Shih Hsin-yuah in the first round today.
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