Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/28
By: HOWARD FENDRICH , AP Tennis Writer,Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The way things went at the Australian Open didn’t exactly teach the world that Novak Djokovic is the best there is in men’s tennis right now. Certainly confirmed it, though.

And while those within the game knew all about Naomi Osaka, she made sure her talent is more obvious to more people.

Djokovic, a 31-year-old already ranked No. 1, now has won the past three men’s Grand Slam titles. Osaka, who earned her debut at No. 1 at age 21, has won the last two women’s trophies at majors.

When it’s time for the next Grand Slam tournament — the French Open, four months from now — all eyes should be on them.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 28, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Kinmen Kaoliang and Taiwan Beer emerged the top dogs from this weekend’s Super

Basketball League matchups, before all seven teams take time off for the winter break.

In yesterday’s thriller, Bank of Taiwan edged out Pauian Archiland by one point to win 103-102 at Taipei’s Tianmu Gymnasium.

In the final seconds of a see-saw final quarter, Bank of Taiwan’s American forward Angel Nunez drained a three-pointer to seal the win.

Nunez, a former standout at the University of Southern Florida, had a game-high of 39 points and pulled down nine rebounds.

He was on a shooting streak, hitting 15 of 24 attempts, including four of seven in three-point range, while compatriot and teammate Joseph Taylor added 20 points and nine rebounds.

Guard Chang Bo-sheng contributed 15 points and forward Lin Ren-hong put up 14 to help Bank of Taiwan rack up their fifth win of the season.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/22
By: Lung Po-an and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Jan. 22 (CNA) Taiwanese sisters Latisha Chan (詹詠然) and Chan Hao-ching (詹皓

晴) saw their bid for a semifinal berth at the Australian Open dashed by unseeded Americans on Tuesday, and the younger sister was eliminated from the mixed doubles later in the day.

Seeded seventh in the women’s doubles, the Chans lost to Alison Riske and Jennifer Brady 6-3, 7-6 (3) in a quarterfinal match in 83 minutes, unable to take advantage of key break points or a second-set advantage.

Quickly falling behind 4-2 in the first set, the Chans had three break points in the seventh game to pull the set back on serve, but could not capitalize.

In the second set, they jumped to a 4-1 lead, but a break by the Americans and another missed break opportunity by the Chans brought the set back to 4-4, and a poor tiebreaker ended the Taiwanese duo’s hopes.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/21
By: Yang Chih-fang and Flor Wang

Kaohsiung, Jan. 21 (CNA) Taiwan will host one and possibly two qualifying tournaments for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics baseball event, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) announced in Rome on Sunday.

Six teams will compete in the 2020 Olympic baseball event, starting with host nation Japan.

The top finisher from the Americas at the WBSC Premier 12 in November 2019 will clinch another berth, as will the top team from Asia/Oceania (excluding Japan) if it finishes in the top six.

The other three spots will go to the winner of the Africa/Europe qualifying event (September 2019), the Americas qualifying event (March 2020) and a final six-team qualifying tournament, the WBSC said in a statement.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/19
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Chung Yu-chen

Taipei, Jan. 19 (CNA) Taiwan’s Latisha Chan (詹詠然) and her partner lost their first-round mixed doubles match in straight sets at the Australian Open Saturday, while her sister, Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and her pairing advanced to the second round.

Partnered with Croatia’s Ivan Dodig, Latisha Chan went up against Abigail Spears of the U.S. and Colombia’s Juan Sebastian Cabal, with each side breaking their opponents’ serves twice in the first 10 games to tie 5-5.

However, Latisha Chan and Dodig failed to hold serve in the 11th game and lost the first set 5-7.

The pair lost the second set 6-2.    [FULL  STORY]

THE BEST MEDICINE: The rising Japanese star took her frustrations over Hsieh’s tricky strokeplay out on her racket before letting out a laugh and turning the tide

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 20, 2019
By: AFP, MELBOURNE

Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan gave Japan’s Naomi Osaka an emotional ride in the Australian

Open women’s singles yesterday before the US Open champion sent her packing.

Osaka conceded the first set and was down 4-1 in the second before a five-game winning streak forced a decider and she took control for a 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 victory.

Fourth seed Osaka uncharacteristically blew her cool as she struggled against Hsieh’s unorthodox strokeplay, receiving a warning for racket abuse.

The 21-year-old after the match repeatedly apologized for her outburst and said it was laughter, not anger, that allowed her to advance to the last 16.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/18
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Ko Lin

Taipei, Jan. 18 (CNA) Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) was knocked out of the US$350,000

Perodua Malaysia Masters badminton tournament on Friday by the one player on the world badminton tour she has had trouble solving.

The World No. 1 Tai, who is coming off an impressive 2018 in which she bagged seven BWF World Tour titles, fell to Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 21-13, 21-14 in the tournament’s quarterfinals in just 31 minutes.

Tai, who was hoping to avenge a tough loss to the Thai in the finals of the 2018 Malaysia Masters, has now lost five of the last six matches the two have played.

She was trying her best to find her rhythm after taking a break following a hamstring injury in mid-December last year, but was no match for the former world champion, who has not dropped a game in three matches in Malaysia.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 19, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA and AFP, MELBOURNE

Taiwan’s Chan sisters yesterday fought their way through to the third round of the

Australian Open women’s doubles, but Hsieh Su-wei was ousted after she and her US partner were unable to capitalize on several opening set chances.

Seventh seeds Latisha Chan and Chan Hao-ching topped Jiang Xinyu and Wang Qiang of China 6-2, 6-3 in 65 minutes in a match in which both teams had trouble holding serve.

The Chans won six of their opponents’ eight service games, despite having their own serve broken three times.

The start of the match was delayed by rain, but it did not trouble the Chans.

“Was quite a long day because of the weather, but got some amazing support today … so it was worth the wait,” Latisha Chan said on Facebook.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/17
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Chi Jo-yao

Taipei, Jan. 17 (CNA) Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) beat Line Kjaersfeldt of Denmark to

advance to the women’s singles quarterfinals Thursday at the 2019 Malaysia Masters.

After losing the first set, the world No. 1 stepped up the pace to run away with the next two sets and defeat her world ranked 21st opponent 19-21, 21-12, 21-10 in 41 minutes.

Tai has a 5-0 record against Kjaersfeldt, and is the only Taiwanese player left in the tournament. The 24-year-old Taiwanese will face either Chloe Birch of England or Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in the quarterfinal.

Tai reached the women’s singles finals at the 2018 Malaysia Masters but lost to Intanon 21-16, 14-21, 24-22.     [SOURCE]

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 18, 2019
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter

Hsieh Su-wei yesterday claimed back-to-back victories at the Australian Open, while fellow

Taiwanese Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan also triumphed on their bow at the first Grand Slam of the season.

Taiwanese No. 1 Hsieh advanced to the third round of the women’s singles with a 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Laura Siegemund of Germany in 1 hour, 33 minutes.

The Kaohsiung-born 28th seed hit 25 winners and took advantage of her opponent’s 38 unforced errors, while saving eight of 10 break points and converting four of 11 to advance to a third-round clash with reigning US Open champion Naomi Osaka.

The Japanese fourth seed took just 64 minutes to see off the challenge of Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek 6-2, 6-4.    [FULL  STORY]