Rodionova fails to burst Babos bubble, Diyas makes Taipei exit

New Australian Open doubles champion Timea Babos beat Arina Rodionova on her return to singles action in Taipei.

Published : Jan 31, 2018 19:21 IST

World number 45 Timea Babos
World number 45 Timea Babos
lightbox-info

World number 45 Timea Babos

Timea Babos eased past Arina Rodionova in her first singles match since being crowned Australian Open doubles champion, but sixth seed Zarina Diyas crashed out of the Taiwan Open on Wednesday.

Babos claimed her maiden grand slam title along with Kristina Mladenovic at Melbourne Park last Friday and was runner-up in the mixed doubles final partnering Rohan Bopanna at the first major of the year.

The Hungarian made a smooth switch back to singles in Taipei, the fourth seed hitting 30 winners and breaking twice in each set to defeat Rodionova 6-3 6-2.

Peng Shuai, Zhang Shuai and Samantha Stosur - the top three seeds - all suffered-first round defeats and Diyas was sent packing in the second round on day three. 

Monica Niculescu accounted for the sixth seed, who was beaten 6-0 1-6 6-4 by the unseeded Romanian.

Niculescu will face Sabine Lisicki in the quarter-finals after the German won her second match since recovering from a knee operation, seeing off Nao Hibino 6-4 6-1.

Yulia Putintseva and Kateryna Kozlova also reached the last eight, while Dalila Jakupovic got past Lizette Cabrera to set up a second-round contest with Babos.

 

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment