Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her partner, Peng Shaui (彭帥) of China, fought back from a set down to claim the Western & Southern Open women’s doubles title in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Sunday.
After falling behind 0-4 in the first set, Hsieh and Peng rallied for a 2-6, 6-3, 12-10 victory over sixth seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic.
It was the duo’s third title this year in their first tournament since they won the Wimbledon doubles title.
Photo: AFP
They dropped only one set on the way to the final, but they dropped the first set on Sunday in just 28 minutes.
“They started playing well in the first set and it put a lot of pressure on us,” Peng told the WTA Web site. “Also, it was our first time playing them together as a team, so we also didn’t know how to play them a little bit. We called our coach at the start of the second set and from there we just tried to fight, and we’re really happy we could come back and win the second set, and of course win the match in the end as well.”
Hsieh and Peng now have seven WTA doubles titles, one in 2008 (Bali), three in 2009 (Sydney, Rome and Beijing) and three this year (Rome, Wimbledon and Cincinnati), and they have never lost in a final.
It was Peng’s first tournament since winning Wimbledon.
“I had to go back to China to play the National Games there,” Peng said. “It’s every four years for us and it’s very important for my team, so I had a long week playing that and a lot of tough matches.”
Next up for the victorious duo is this week’s WTA tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, but they also have their sights set on the WTA Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, in October.
“We’re trying to get into Istanbul,” Hsieh told the WTA Web site. “We’ve never played Istanbul before, so we’re trying to schedule the tournaments better and trying to win a little bit more because we haven’t been playing a lot of tournaments. Now, including New Haven, we’ll have played nine tournaments together this year.”
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from