Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan yesterday began their year with a defeat in the first round of the doubles at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, on a day that also saw fellow Taiwanese Chang Kai-chen exit the Shenzhen Open.
The second-seeded Chan sisters fell to a 7-5, 3-6, 10-5 defeat to Kirsten Flipkins of Belgium and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in their opening match of the season.
The Taiwanese duo saved six of 11 break points and converted five of 13, winning 70 of the 136 points contested, but it was not enough.
There was also an upset in the singles in Auckland as world No. 2 Serena Williams slumped to a 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4 defeat to fellow American Madison Brengle.
“I really think I played — I’m trying to think of a word that’s not obscene — but that’s how I played,” Williams told the WTA Web site. “Eighty-eight unforced errors is too much, just way too many.”
The result was a surprise, as Brengle won just a single game in their only previous encounter in Madrid in 2015.
In the second round of the Shenzhen Open, Taiwanese qualifier Chang was routed 6-1, 6-2 in just 47 minutes by Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic.
There was better news in the first round of the ATP Tour’s Chennai Open on Tuesday, as eighth seed and Taiwanese No. 1 Lu Yen-hsun cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Radu Albot of Moldova in 63 minutes.
Lu was due to face Russian world No. 99 Daniil Medvedev in the second round yesterday.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier