Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia on Friday advanced to the final in the women’s doubles at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with a win over a Chinese pair in the semi-finals.
The third-seeded Taiwanese-Latvian duo were to play Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament, with the match scheduled to begin at about press time last night.
On Friday, Hsieh and Ostapenko eliminated Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan 6-4, 4-6, 10-2 in 95 minutes.
Photo: EPA-EFE
In the women’s singles, Russian teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva continued her giant-slaying exploits, upsetting Kazakhstani sixth seed Elena Rybakina 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the semi-finals.
Denmark’s Clara Tauson set up a final showdown with Andreeva after overcoming Karolina Muchovaher 6-4, 6-7 (7/4), 6-3.
Andreeva and Tauson were to play after press time last night.
Andreeva, who had stunned five-times Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek in the quarters and former Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova in the round-of-32, is the youngest player to reach a WTA 1000 Final.
In Brazil, Argentine Francisco Comesana on Friday stunned Australian Open finalist and world No. 2 Alexander Zverev with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win in the quarter-finals of the Rio Open, the biggest win of his career so far.
Comesana, ranked 86th in the world, turned heads in his Grand Slam debut match last year when he handed sixth seed Andrey Rublev a first-round exit from Wimbledon.
Friday’s win in Rio de Janeiro is the 24-year-old’s first victory over a top-five ranked opponent.
“I was repeating to myself throughout the match: ‘How good it is to be alive,’” Comesana said in his post-match interview. “So, I was enjoying the entire match.”
Comesana was to play Alexandre Muller in the semi-finals yesterday, with the Frenchman beating Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina 7-5, 6-1.
Taiwan’s Tseng Chun-hsin missed out on the semis, losing 6-4, 6-1 to Argentina’s Sebastian Baez, who was to play compatriot Camilo Ugo Carabelli.
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen has become the first female player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after the Golden State Valkyries selected her in the third and final round of the league’s draft on Monday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship earlier this month. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament’s most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen (陳凱玲) has become the first player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after being selected by the Golden State Valkyries in the third and final round of the league's draft yesterday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship on April 6. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament's most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as a
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
In-form teenager Mirra Andreeva on Thursday crashed out of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, after going down in straight sets to fellow Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova in the last 16. World No. 7 Andreeva, who already has two titles under her belt this season, lost 6-3, 6-2 against the 22nd-ranked Alexandrova in just over an hour. The 17-year-old Andreeva had defeated her elder sister Erika in the previous round on Wednesday, but Alexandrova quickly took control as she claimed her fourth win over a top-10 player this season. The 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva in February became the youngest winner of a WTA
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