Taipei Times
Date:  Jan 05, 2016
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter

The Chan sisters began a season in which they will be eyeing a women’s doubles medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics with an unexpected loss at the Brisbane International yesterday, while fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei celebrated her birthday with a victory at the Shenzhen Open.

Second seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan lost their opening set of the year and never managed to recover, falling to a 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 10-5 defeat to unseeded pairing Raquel Atawo of the US and Alize Cornet of France in the first round in Brisbane.

The Taiwanese sisters, ranked 12th and seventh in the world respectively, saved four of six break points and converted five of seven, winning 52 percent of the points contested, but it was not enough as they fell to an opening-day defeat in 1 hour, 41 minutes at the Queensland Tennis Centre.

It was a disappointing start to the season for the Chan sisters, who teamed up last year with the intention of qualifying to represent Taiwan at this summer’s Olympic Games and went on to claim the women’s doubles titles in Pattaya, Cincinnatti and Tokyo.     [FULL  STORY]