Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching on Saturday advanced to the women’s doubles round of 16 at Wimbledon, while world No. 1 Iga Swiatek was dumped out by Yulia Putintseva as Novak Djokovic reached the fourth round for the 16th time.
Twelfth seeds Chan and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia defeated Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Japan’s Nao Hibino 6-2, 7-5 on Court 6 in 1 hour, 15 minutes.
Their win set up a third-round showdown against the winners of a round-of-32 match to be held after press time last night between eighth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Laura Siegemund of Germany and Americans Hailey Baptiste and Alycia Parks.
Photo: AFP
Australian Open women’s doubles champions Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Belgium’s Elise Mertens, the top seeds at Wimbledon, were last night after press time to face the British duo of Yuriko Miyazaki and Emily Appleton.
In the first round of the mixed doubles, eight seeds Chan and Croatia’s Ivan Dodig were to play Marcus Willis and Alicia Barnett of Britain after press time last night, while seventh seeds Hsieh and Jan Zielinski of Poland were to play Monaco’s Hugo Nys and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, on a cold and wet Saturday at the All England Club, only three of the women’s top 10 were left in the draw, while Andy Murray’s Wimbledon career ended with a whimper when Emma Raducanu pulled the plug on their mixed doubles plans.
Top seed Swiatek, who won a fourth French Open and fifth Grand Slam title last month, was stunned 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the third round by Putintseva, the Russian-born Kazakh.
The upset ended Swiatek’s 21-match win streak as the diminutive Putintseva booked a clash with the equally fiery Jelena Ostapenko for a quarter-final place.
Djokovic reached the fourth round yet again with a battling 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) win over Australia’s Alexei Popyrin.
Chasing a record-equaling eighth title at the All England Club and 25th Grand Slam, Djokovic has made the last 16 at the majors for a 65th time.
It was also the 37-year-old’s 95th win at Wimbledon.
Fourth-ranked Elena Rybakina, the 2022 champion, dismantled former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki for the loss of just one game.
Rybakina, second-ranked Coco Gauff and Jasmine Paolini, the world No. 7 from Italy, are the only women in the top 10 to reach the fourth round.
Meanwhile, Murray’s 19-year Wimbledon career finished on a low.
The former world No. 1, who is to retire after the Paris Olympics, did not play singles after failing to recover from surgery to remove a cyst from his spine.
On Thursday, he and brother Jamie were defeated in the first round of men’s doubles.
Murray, the 2013 and 2016 Wimbledon champion, was scheduled to partner Raducanu in Saturday’s last match on Court One.
However, 2021 US Open winner Raducanu withdrew with a right wrist problem.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
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Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
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