Tennis: Chan Hao-ching and Partner Score Upset at Cincinnati Open

Taiwanese tennis player Chan Hao-ching and her Australian partner Maya Joint have advanced to the round of 16 at the Cincinnati Open after a significant upset in the women's doubles.

The unseeded "Taiwan-Australia alliance" defeated the No. 8 seeded duo of Elise Mertens of Belgium and Diana Shnaider of Russia in a hard-fought three-set match. The final score was 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 10-3, with the match lasting over two hours.

Chan and Joint demonstrated resilience and determination against their higher-ranked opponents. After a tightly contested first set that went to a tiebreak, which the Taiwanese-Australian pair won, Mertens and Shnaider fought back to take the second set. The deciding tiebreak saw Chan and Joint regain their momentum, securing a commanding 6-1 lead and ultimately closing out the match.

This victory marks a strong start for Chan Hao-ching in the WTA 1000 event, which serves as a crucial warm-up for the U.S. Open later this month. Chan is among four Taiwanese women participating in the Cincinnati tournament, with Liang En-shuo and Hsieh Su-wei also securing opening-round wins in doubles.

Wu Fang-hsien, the fourth Taiwanese player, is set to compete in her opening doubles match alongside her Croatian partner Darija Jurak against the top-seeded pair of Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend.