Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova on Tuesday survived a crucial doubles group-stage match at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, giving them a chance today to earn a semi-final berth, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Belgian partner Elise Mertens were at press time last night aiming to advance as Green Group winners.
Third seeds Chan and Kudermetova, making their first Finals appearance as a duo, edged past fifth seeds Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk of the US in 88 minutes for their first win of the year-ending tournament featuring the eight best singles players and doubles pairs of the calendar year.
Their 3-6, 6-3 (10/7) victory improved their White Group record in the round-robin phase to 1-1. If they today beat No. 4 seeds Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini of Italy, they would advance to the semi-finals, joining Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe, who downed Chan and Kudermetova 7-6 (7/6), 6-4 on Sunday.
Photo: Reuters
Chan and Kudermetova’s win on Tuesday at King Saud University Indoor Arena handed Gabriela and Routliffe, last year’s US Open champions, their semi-final berth. Earlier this year, the Taiwanese and Russian pair denied the Canadian and New Zealander a second US Open victory, defeating them in the quarter-finals.
The top-two finishers from each group of the WTA Finals advance to the semi-finals.
Last night, Australian Open champions Hsieh and Mertens were aiming to beat the Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend of the US to advance as Green Group winners.
Photo: AFP
Sinakova and Townsend would advance no matter the result, but third seeds Hsieh and Mertens have to win to move on after Australia’s Ellen Perez and Nicole Melichar-Martinez yesterday beat Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko.
Meanwhile, Coco Gauff on Tuesday posted a rare victory over Iga Swiatek to punch her ticket to the singles semi-finals, ensuring Aryna Sabalenka would finish the year as the world No. 1.
Swiatek, the defending champion, was in a direct battle with Sabalenka for the top spot this week, but needed a win over Gauff to keep her chances alive of leapfrogging her Belarusian rival.
Gauff, 20, entered the contest having lost 11 of her 12 previous meetings with Swiatek, with the American’s sole victory coming in Cincinnati last year.
She turned the tables on Swiatek on Tuesday, defeating the second seed 6-3, 6-4 to make it two straight-sets wins from two round-robin matches in Riyadh this week.
“It feels great. I knew going into the match that despite our head-to-head I had a lot of confidence going in,” said Gauff, who hit 11 double faults during the 1-hour, 48-minute showdown.
Swiatek, a five-time major champion, said her two-month break between the US Open and the WTA Finals and that she is playing her first tournament with her new coach Wim Fissette have made things “a bit more tricky and different than usual.”
“But I’ll force myself to work even better in the next match,” the Pole added.
Earlier in the day Barbora Krejcikova ended Jessica Pegula’s chances of qualifying for the semi-finals, defeating the sixth-seeded American 6-3, 6-3.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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