TENNIS/Chan, Kudermetova advance to WTA Finals women's doubles semifinal

Taipei, Nov. 8 (CNA) Taiwanese tennis player Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia secured a spot in the women's doubles semifinals at the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

The Taiwan-Russia duo outlasted 2024 Olympic gold medalists Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini of Italy 3-6, 7-6 (3), 11-9 (super tiebreaker) after saving two match points in the second set to finish second in Group White.

The victory gave the 31-year-old Chan her best showing at the WTA Finals since 2015, when she reached the semifinals in her WTA Finals debut with sister Latisha Chan (詹詠然). She also competed in the tournament in 2016 and 2019.

The duo had to finish in the top two in their group of four teams to advance to the semifinal round.

After losing Saturday to the second-seeded Canada-New Zealand duo of Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe, who went on to win all their group matches, Chan and Kudermetova kept their hopes alive by defeating the U.S. pair Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk in a super tiebreaker on Tuesday.

They then toppled Errani and Paolini after losing the first set for the third consecutive match.

Chan and Kudermetova faced two match points on Paolini's serve at 5-4 in the second set, but fended them off to keep the match alive.

They then failed to convert on three match points up 9-6 in the first-to-10 super tiebreaker, but successive volley winners by Chan and Kudermetova gave them the match.

Chan and Kudermetova will next face Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the United States, who topped Group Green, for a spot in the final.

This year's WTA Finals, held in Riyadh, features the top eight singles players and doubles teams in the world competing for the year-end championship.

Also competing in the tournament was Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇), who paired with Elise Mertens of Belgium in Group Green but was eliminated with a 1-2 record in their three group matches.

Soon to turn 39 in January, Hsieh has competed in five editions of the WTA Finals and was crowned champion in her tournament debut in 2013 when she played with Peng Shuai (彭帥) of China, who has mysteriously remained out of the public eye since 2021 after accusing a Chinese politician of sexually assaulting her in 2018.

This is the first time Hsieh failed to make it to the tournament's semifinal.