Taipei, Jan. 18 (CNA) Taiwan's Chang Kai-chen lost in the opening round of the women's singles at the Australian Open on Tuesday, leaving Taiwan without any players left in the main draws of the singles event at the first Grand Slam event of the year.
Chang was no match for Serbian world No. 58 Bojana Jovanovski, losing 7-5, 6-1 in 81 minutes to exit the Australian Open in the first round for the second consecutive year in a row.
Chang, who turned 20 last week, had opportunities to make a greater impact on the match but was only able to convert two of eight break points against Jovanovski while having her own serve broken six times.
She had been Taiwan's only singles hopeful in the women's draw after Chan Yung-jan failed to make it out of the qualifying round.
On Monday, Taiwan's only player in the men's singles draw, Lu Yen-hsun, fell 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 to Gilles Simon of France in his opening round match.
Taiwanese players must now perform well in the doubles competition if they hope to extend their stay in Melbourne.
Lu will pair with Rainer Schuettler of Germany against the Swedish-Austrian duo of Simon Aspalin and Alexander Peya in the first round of the men's doubles.
On the women's side, Chan Yung-jan will team with Polish partner Agnieszka Radwanska to take on Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in her opener, while compatriots Chuang Chia-jung and Hsieh Su-Wei will face Australian duo Jade Hopper and Monika Wejnert.
Chang Kai-chen is not entered in the doubles tournament. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ls