In an exhilarating match at the China Open, Taiwanese tennis player Hsuan-Yu Chan, teamed up with her Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova, earned their spot in the women’s doubles semifinals after a hard-fought victory over Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Great Britain’s Olivia Nicholls, finishing with a score of 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

The China Open, held in Beijing, is part of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 1000 series. Last year, Chan made waves by securing a silver medal in women’s doubles alongside her Mexican partner Giuliana Olmos. This year, partnering with the talented Kudermetova, Chan and her team entered the tournament as the seventh seeds. They advanced to the quarterfinals following a fortunate withdrawal of one of their opponents.

Known as the “Tai-Russia Alliance,” Chan and Kudermetova faced a formidable challenge against the top-seeded team of Mihalikova and Nicholls. The first set was a nail-biter; Chan and Kudermetova initially lost a serve but quickly responded by breaking back, ultimately pushing the set into a tiebreaker. Displaying remarkable composure under pressure, they clinched the set 7-6.

Despite starting the second set with an early break against them, the duo kept their cool. After reassessing their strategy, they broke their opponents in the sixth and eighth games, and they finished strong with a 6-3 victory to advance to the semifinals. Their next challenge will be against the Italian duo of Elisabetta Cocciaretto and Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova, as they vie for a place in the finals.