New York, Sept. 9 (CNA) Taiwanese tennis player Chan Hao-ching and her partner Michael Venus of New Zealand lost their mixed doubles title in the final at the U.S. Open on Saturday, succumbing to Switzerland's Martina Hingis and Britain's Jamie Murray 6-1 4-6 10-8.
The young Taiwanese-New Zealand pair, seeded third for the tournament, fought a tough battle against the Wimbledon champions Hingis -- the former five-time grand slam singles champion -- and Murray at the beginning of the match, losing to the top seeds 6-1 in only 22 minutes in the first set.
However, they jumped ahead in the second set, leading their opponents 4-2, but Hingis and Murray fought back to 4-4. In the second-set tiebreak, Chan earned two points in the crucial ninth game at 6-4.
Trailing 8-7 late in the tiebreaker, the top seeds won the last three points to claim the mixed doubles title.
The Chan-Venus pair only came together when Venus was approached by Chan's coach during a tournament in Cincinnati last week.
There are no ranking points up for grabs in mixed doubles but the pair of runner-up finishes will share US$70,000 in prize money between them.
This was the third time the 24-year-old Chan has failed to clinch a Grand Slam doubles title.
At the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, Chan for the first time reached the finals of the mixed doubles competition with Max Mirnyi to reach her first ever Grand Slam final.
In July, she and her Romanian partner Monica Niculescu were overwhelmed in the women's doubles final at Wimbledon.
The Grand Slam tournaments, also called the majors, are the four most important annual tennis events that comprise the Australian Open in January, the French Open in May and June, Wimbledon in July, and the U.S. Open in August and September.
