Taiwan’s Hsieh Shu-wei and Chinese partner Peng Shuai, the No. 2 seeded duo in women’s tennis, failed to advance to the quarter-finals of the US Open in New York on Monday after suffering a 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 loss.
Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm and the Czech Republic’s Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of Czech snatched victory to end the momentum of the cross-strait duo.
Hsieh and Peng had already grabbed three championships this year, including the French Open in June.
Photo: EPA
The loss could mean major changes for the duo, who have confirmed they would consider ending their epic partnership, which began in 2009, if they did not win the US Open championship and move forward in the season-long Road to Singapore campaign.
It was not all bad news for Taiwan, as Chan Yung-jan, partnered with Ross Hutchins of the UK, advanced to semi-finals for the mixed doubles.
In their quarter-final match against Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Marcin Matkowski of Poland, Chan and Hutchins secured a 6-3 win in the first set and were at 1-2 in the second when Peschke decided to retire.
Hsieh said that she is sorry that her lack of fitness affected her Chinese partner.
“There is no need to be unhappy about going our separate ways,” Hsieh wrote in a Facebook post after she and Peng were defeated.
Hsieh and Peng were unwilling to talk about the split.
On her Facebook fanpage, Hsieh said she has been in very poor condition this year and her partner felt the impact as a result.
Despite this, Hsieh said she is happy that she and Peng achieving the No. 1 ranking and won the French Open title in women’s doubles earlier this year.
The 28-year-old said she is looking forward to upcoming tournaments in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Beijing and the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
She also wished Peng success in her ongoing campaign in women’s singles.
Non-seeded Peng entered her first Grand Slam singles quarter-final after beating No. 14 seed Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday.
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