EMOTIONS RUN HIGH: Reigning champion Naomi Osaka was ousted by teenaged sensation Coco Gauff, while her immediate predecessors both left the tournament in tears

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 25, 2020
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter, with Reuters and AFP, MELBOURNE

The Chan sisters yesterday cruised into the third round of the women’s doubles at the Australian

Open, while fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the second rounds of the women’s and mixed doubles at the first Grand Slam of the year.

Seventh seeds Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan took just 62 minutes to see off the challenge of Kaitlyn Christian of the US and Alexa Guarachi of Chile 6-4, 6-2 on Court 15 at Melbourne Park.

The Chan sisters won 79 percent of points on their second serve, converted five of seven break points and hit 13 winners.

Top seeds Hsieh and Barbora Strycova had a tougher time against first-round opponents Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic and Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia on Court 13, before running out 6-3, 7-5 winners in 1 hour, 35 minutes.    [FULL  STORY]

‘WILL TO WIN’: The US’ Coco Gauff battled back from a set down to defeat Sorana Cirstea and set up a match against Japan’s Naomi Osaka, the defending champion

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 23, 2020
By: Staff writer, with CNA and AFP, MELBOURNE

Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Chan Hao-ching yesterday reached the second round of the Australian

Open women’s doubles after two consecutive first-round defeats in tournaments this year.

The Chan sisters defeated Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia and Miyu Kato of Japan 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 in 1 hour, 40 minutes to advance to the next round.

The win was particularly uplifting for the sisters, who have had a disappointing start to the new season with first-round defeats at the Brisbane International and Hobart International earlier this month.

The crucial moment in the match came in the first-set tiebreak, which the Chan sisters won 7-3, before running away with the second set 6-3.

In the women’s singles, 15-year-old prodigy Coco Gauff set up a blockbuster with defending champion Naomi Osaka, as a pumped-up Serena Williams took another step toward a record-equaling 24th Grand Slam title.    [FULL  STORY]

Tai Tzu-ying expresses desire to open school after 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/21
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) said during an interview with The New Indian Express that she is considering hanging up her racket after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Ranked as the world's No. 1 womens' singles badminton player, Tai had an incredible winning rate of 90 percent in 2018 and 86 percent in 2019. She also holds the current record for being the top-ranked player for the longest period in Badminton World Federation (BWF) history.

According to the article published on Monday (Jan. 20), the 25-year-old Taiwanese star said that she does not really care about her numbers as much as whether she is having fun. She added that her secret to constantly performing at a high level is to enjoy every match and minimize basic mistakes.

Regarding her main opponent Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, the pride of India and the world's No. 2 ranked badminton player, Tai laughed and said that there is no rivalry between the two. Tai proceeded to praise Sindhu, saying that she is a tough opponent to face.   [FULL  STORY]

FALLEN STAR? Former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova had no answers about her future after a defeat made her an opening-round loser for the third straight Grand Slam

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 22, 2020
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter, with AFP, MELBOURNE

Taiwanese interest in the singles at the first Grand Slam of the year ended yesterday after Hsieh

Su-wei and Lu Yen-hsun both fell to straight-sets defeats on the second day of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

World No. 37 Hsieh fell to a comprehensive 6-1, 6-3 defeat to world No. 38 Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan in 1 hour, 18 minutes on Court 15 at Melbourne Park.

The Taiwanese No. 1 produced 28 unforced errors and won just 47 percent of points on her first serve, while Putintseva won 85 percent of points on her first serve and converted five of 10 break points to advance to a second-round clash with 26th seed Danielle Collins of the US, who defeated Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.

The defeat left Hsieh to concentrate on the women’s doubles, in which the Taiwanese and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic are the top seeds.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/19/2020
By: William Yen

Taipei, Jan. 19 (CNA) The winning streak of the Taipei Fubon Braves was snapped Saturday in an upsetting lost to the visiting Hong Kong Eastern in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) in Taiwan's capital.

Before tip-off, Taipei, ranked second on the ABL standings, was on the hunt to extend its three-game winning streak after it stunned Thailand's Mono Vampire Basketball Club by a single point a day earlier.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong, which was placed last on the standings, was looking for a chance to redeem itself after it lost to Taipei 89-102 the last time the two teams faced off in November.

However, at the final whistle Saturday, Taipei fell 78-105, after Hong Kong American import guard Brandis Raley-Ross led the scoreboard with 27 points made from downtown and inside the key at Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/16/2020
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan and Joseph Yeh

Jakarta, Jan. 15 (CNA) One of Taiwan's top badminton players, Wang Tzu-wei (王子維), advanced to the second round of the Indonesia Masters on Wednesday, after beating his Thai opponent in the men's singles.

Wang, ranked 15 in the world, defeated Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand 21-12, 21-16, in a 41-minute match at Istora Senayan indoor gymnasium in Jakarta.

Wang attributed the victory to the fact that he was able to better control the tempo of the game by sticking to his pre-match tactics.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 15, 2020
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter, with AP and AFP, HOBART and ADELAIDE, Australia

The Chan sisters’ disappointing start to the new season continued yesterday at the Hobart International

when they fell to a second consecutive first-round defeat, while fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei was ousted in the first round of the singles at the Adelaide International after a three-set battle with Aryna Sabalenka.

All looked well for top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan after they won the first set against unseeded Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine and Sharon Fichman of Canada, but the Taiwanese sisters could not maintain that momentum as they fell to a 2-6, 6-3, 10-4 defeat in 1 hour, 19 minutes.

The Chan sisters won only 55 percent of points on their first serve and 29 percent of their first-return points as they fell to a second straight first-round defeat after their earlier elimination at the Brisbane International last week.

India’s Sania Mirza won her first doubles match since returning to the WTA Tour following the birth of her son.    [FULL  STORY]

TRIPLE WINNER: Defending champion Karolina Pliskova prevailed in three sets against Madison Keys to become the first three-time champion at the Brisbane International

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 13, 2020
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova yesterday battled back from a set down and saved a

championship point to claim their first doubles title of season at the Brisbane International.

The top seeds rallied after dropping the first set and a break in the second to complete a 3-6, 7-6 (9/7), 10-8 victory over Ashleigh Barty and Kiki Bertens in 1 hour, 45 minutes at Pat Rafter Arena.

After conceding the first set and falling behind in the second, the Taiwanese-Czech duo had to dig deep, saving championship point on Hsieh’s serve before forcing a super tiebreak.

They carried that momentum into the decider to race to a 6-1 lead, but the Australian-Dutch pairing fought back to 6-5 in front of a partisan crowd cheering for Queenslander Barty.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/10/2020
By: Lung Po-an and Ko Lin

Taipei, Jan. 10 (CNA) Taiwan's Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) is just two matches away from winning the Malaysia Masters title after overcoming her Indian opponent in the quarterfinals of the women's singles event in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

The top-seeded Tai, who is currently ranked second in the world, defeated defending world champion Pusarla Sindhu 21-16, 21-16 in 36 minutes.

In a tight first game, Tai and Sindhu exchanged the lead multiple times and were deadlocked at 15-15 before the Taiwanese ran off six of the next seven points to take the game.

Tai continued her hot run by taking a commanding 11-2 lead in the second game. Sindhu closed the lead to five on a string of Tai errors, but the top seed was able to stem her opponent's rally and close out the match.    [FULL  STORY]