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Last Taiwanese player knocked out at Wimbledon

Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei returns the ball to Russia’s Dinara Safina during their women’s singles second round match in southwest London on Thursday. PHOTO: AP

Taiwan’s last player at Wimbledon, Hsieh Su-wei, was defeated by French Open finalist Dinara Safina of Russia 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the women’s singles event at the All England Tennis Club yesterday.

Hsieh was the only Taiwanese player in the second round this year and her departure means there are no more Taiwanese participating in southwest London.

Hsieh said her performance had been “acceptable,” and that she would practice even harder so as to improve her performance in the future.

“After losing the game, I’ll just go home and practice even harder,” Hsieh said.

Safina played well and her powerful serve gave the Taiwanese player all sorts of problems.

Hsieh’s coach Tang Chia-pao said Safina’s serve was so strong that the 22-year-old Taiwanese player could hardly get going and display her skills. Tang said that it was an invaluable experience for Hsieh to play the French Open finalist.

Earlier this year, Hsieh played against former world No. 1 Justine Henin in the Australian Open and Tang said competing with the world’s top players would help Hsieh better understand her strengths and weaknesses.

After competing at Wimbledon three times, Hsieh is yet to advance from the second round.

“Advancing from the first round to the second round means maybe I can do better next time,” Hsieh said.

Tang said that Hsieh still needs to improve her physical strength, her serve, defensive shots and speed, and all this would take time. She also said the Taiwanese player was unlucky to face a tough opponent like Safina in the second round.

Hsieh will now travel to compete in tournaments in Germany and Italy, before returning to Taiwan for training. Later this summer she will travel to the US to prepare for the US Open on Aug. 25.
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