Taipei Times
Date: Jun 21, 2018
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter, with AP, BIRMINGHAM, England

Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching yesterday won a showdown with her elder sister in the first round of the doubles at the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham, while in the singles Petra Kvitova on Tuesday began her title defense with a revenge win.

Unseeded Chan and Yang Zhaoxuan of China thwarted a fightback by third seeds Latisha Chan and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada to complete a 6-4, 3-6, 10-5 victory in 1 hour, 21 minutes on the grass courts at Edgbaston Priory Club.

The cross-strait duo saved 12 of 14 break points and converted two of five to advance to a quarter-final against either Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Romania’s Raluca Olaru or Elise Mertens of Belgium and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands.

In the singles on Tuesday, fourth seed Kvitova sent out a warning to the other Wimbledon contenders with a 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Johanna Konta, who last year became the first British woman to reach the Wimbledon singles semi-finals in almost 40 years.    [FULL  STORY]