Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday squeezed through the opening round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, keeping up her momentum after already bagging two titles this month, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching eased through after an early set back.
Wu on Saturday last week won the women’s doubles title at Hobart International with Chinese partner Jiang Xinyu, following up on the duo’s championship run at the ASB Classic in Auckland a week earlier.
Although Wu has been on a tear with Jiang, with whom she also finished as runners-up at the Washington Open last year, the Taiwanese paired with Russia’s Anna Blinkova for the Australian Open.
Photo: AFP
On Melbourne Park’s Court 14, Wu and Blinkova came back from a 6-4 first set loss to Jodie Burrage of the UK and Denmark’s Clara Tauson to win the second 6-4, before taking the final set 7-6 (10/8) to win in 2 hours, 24 minutes.
Wu and Blinkova are next to face the winners of tomorrow’s match between seventh seeds Asia Muhammad of the US and the Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands and the Spanish duo of Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers.
On Court 5, Fifth seeds Chan and Ukrainian partner Lyudmyla Kichenok took 2 hours, 20 minutes to defeat Anastasia Potapova of Russia and Serbia’s Olga Danilovic 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. They are to play the winners of tomorrow’s match between the Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova and Britain’s Heather Watson and Harriet Dart of the UK and France’s Diane Parry.
Photo: Reuters
Today, women’s doubles wild cards Taiwan’s Tsao Chia-yi and Thai partner Peangtarn Plipuech are scheduled to face 11th seeds Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and American-born Japanese Ena Shibahara.
Taiwanese tennis star Hsieh Su-wei, who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles titles at last year’s Australian Open, is seeded third with Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko. They are tomorrow to open their Australian Open campaign against Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia and the UK’s Olivia Nicholls.
Meanwhile, last year’s runner-up Daniil Medvedev yesterday smashed his racket and avoided a huge shock before joining a rampant Taylor Fritz and veteran Gael Monfils in the second round, while Elena Rybakina, Emma Navarro and Emma Raducanu were early winners on day three.
The feisty Medvedev, a three-time losing finalist at Melbourne Park including a year ago to Jannik Sinner, was the heavy favorite against Thailand’s 418th-ranked Kasidit Samrej, but in his first match of the season, the Russian fifth seed nearly imploded in a fit of anger before finding some measure of calm.
Medvedev won 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena, but not before the 28-year-old mangled his racket as he spectacularly lost his temper in the third set, slamming it into the net camera repeatedly until they both became a broken mess.
Ball kids had to sweep up the debris when he lost the game and set, while the match was postponed briefly as officials repaired the net.
He faces a hefty fine.
“Honestly, I hope not too big. The fine is usually for breaking the racket, and the camera is going to cost some, but I don’t think GoPro is that expensive,” he said. “When I did it, I didn’t want to smash the racket in pieces. When I saw the racket, I was, like, OK, time to take a new one I guess.”
A “crazy happy” Monfils said age was just a number after the 38-year-old Frenchman toppled young countryman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in a five-set thriller.
The flamboyant Monfils became the oldest singles champion in ATP Tour history when he swept to victory at the Auckland Classic on Saturday.
He kept the momentum going against Mpetshi Perricard, 21, fighting through 7-6 (9/7), 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 victory over a grueling 3 hours, 46 minutes.
“Honestly, I never really think about it,” he said of his age. “I know I’m aged a little bit, but I try my best. I know this week I can sometimes have double the age of the guy [he is playing]. I have, I think, 21 years of career, and he’s 21 years old, Giovanni. Of course numbers are there, but I’m fighting, so I try not to put any number in my head.”
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