Taipei, Jan. 24 (CNA) Taiwan's hopes of shining in the 2010 Australian Tennis Open were all but dashed Sunday when fourth seed Hsieh Su-wei and China's Peng Shuai lost in straight sets and failed to advance to the women's doubles quarterfinal.
Hsieh and Peng, who reached the semifinals in the French Open last year, lost to the No. 13 seed Gisela Dulko (ARG) and Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 6-2, 6-2. However, Taiwan's Chan Yung-jan, the 2007 women's doubles finalist in Melbourne, teamed up with Monica Niculescu (ROM) to beat the Russian pair Alla Kudryavtseva and Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 6-4 and advance to the third round.
As Lu Yen-hsun, Chan Yung-jan and Chang Kai-chen all crashed out early in the men's and women's singles, Taiwan's hopes were once again anchored in the women's doubles, a category in which Taiwan players have had relative success in recent years.
Also on Sunday, Taiwan's junior players passed their first test as fifth seed Huang Liang-chi beat the Philippines' Francis Casey Alcantara 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Junior Boys' singles, and Juan Ting-Fei got past Slovakia's Chantal Skamlova 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 in the opening round of the Junior Girls' singles.
Chuang Chia-jung advanced to the second round of the mixed doubles, while Hsieh Su-wei lost in the first round Saturday.
Chuang, paired with Slovakia's Filip Polasek, beat Liezel Huber (USA) and Ross Hutchins (GBR) 6-2, 6-4. Hsieh and Brazil's Bruno Soares lost to the U.S.' Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Bob Bryan 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 in three sets.
Chan and Niculescu are scheduled to meet sixth seed Lisa Raymond (USA) and Rennae Stubbs (AUS) Monday in the third round, while Chuang and Polasek will take on Mattek-Sands and Bryan in the mixed doubles second round. Juan and Huang will also play in the junior girls' and boys' doubles respectively.
Lu, Taiwan's top men's player who currently ranks No. 101 in the ATP men's tour, had a disappointing early exit when he lost to Louk Sorensen of Ireland 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round. Lu reaching the third round in Melbourne last year, his best finish in a grand slam tournament, but this year failed to make it past the first round in the men's doubles as well.
Chan Yung-jan and Chang Kai-chen, currently ranked 85th and 94th in the WTA Tour respectively, both lost in the first round singles to higher-ranked players.