Sister Latisha’s support inspires Chan
dubai – Hao-Ching Chan of Chinese Taipei and her Chinese partner Zhaoxuan Yang stormed into the doubles final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Friday.
Chan and Yang beat Alicja Rosolska of Poland and Abigail Spears of the US in straight sets (6-4 7-5) in the first doubles semifinal of the day on the Centre Court. Chen was delighted with the straight-set win.
“We are very happy with the way we played today. We saved break points in the second set. We did well as a team and I am happy that we co do things that we do in practice,” the 24-year-old Chan told reporters after winning the one-hour-29-minute semifinal battle on Friday.
n Saturday’s final, they will take on the winners of the second semifinal between top seeds and defending champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina of Russia and Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei and Shuai Peng of China.
“Both of the teams are very good and they are playing good tennis. So we have to be on top of our game,” said Chan, who is also known as Angel.
“I think we have to play the same way that we have played this week. We will watch the second semifinal. Hopefully we’ll play another good match tomorrow,” Chan added. Remarkably, Chan’s sister, Latisha Chan, was also in the doubles draw with Czech partner Andrea Sestini Hlavackova.
Had Latisha and Hlavackova won their quarterfinal against Rosolska and Pears on Friday, Dubai would have seen two sisters fighting with different partners for a place in the final.
Despite the 28-year-old Latisha’s defeat on Thursday, she was there in the stands on Friday to support her younger sister. “Of course, she was watching my match and that gave me confidence. She always encourages me. She kept shouting ‘come on’ after every point we won today. She has always been a great support,” Chan said.