Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) yesterday ended her six-year wait for a third WTA Tour singles title at the Japan Women’s Open in Hiroshima when she took just 58 minutes to rout 17-year-old American Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 6-2.
“I gave my best today, so I’m a happy champion,” Hsieh told the WTA Web site after receiving the trophy.
The Taiwanese No. 1 saved four of five break points and converted five of six, taking advantage of Anisimova’s five double faults to win 55 of the 90 points contested.
It was Hsieh’s first WTA singles title since she won in Kuala Lumpur and Guangzhou, China, in 2012.
“Maybe because I did not put too much pressure [on myself] this year,” she said. “I was more enjoying it — trying to run [down] every ball, trying to do this and that, and lob, trying to run and hit a big one, and sometimes I made it — I was enjoying doing all the shots and playing without pressure.”
She also attributed her upturn in form to recovering from an ankle injury that had plagued her for more than a year.
“I twisted my ankle, then I had a problem with my ankle — it was very bad and I could not even walk on the ground,” she said. “Last year, in the clay-court season, every match I played, it was kind of like a torture.”
Anisimova had thrived on the pace thrown at her by her opponents in Hiroshima, including top seed Zhang Shuai (張帥) in their semi-final, but Hsieh gave her none.
“It’s always good to play against a young girl, because they all play different than the time I was [learning] playing,” Hsieh said. “They try to be more aggressive, try to volley more, try to open [the] court, they try to improve better and better — it’s always good to play against them to learn something. You learn what to improve, what to do better. I’m happy that I’m still hanging [in] there and playing my best tennis.”
Hsieh, who returns to the top 30 of the rankings for the first time since 2013, next heads to the Korea Open in Seoul, but first she intended to celebrate with a pancake treat.
“Hiroshima yaki,” she told reporters. “I haven’t tried it yet — only Osaka yaki.”
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