Former champion Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals of the BMW Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Taiwanese world No. 181 Hsieh, whose match was moved from Centre Court to Court 2 following a rain delay, rallied from a break down in the first set to win the tiebreaker, before Russian world No. 171 Elizaveta Kulichkova fought back to claim the second set and force a decider.
The 18-year-old then cracked in the third set as 2012 champion Hsieh completed a 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 6-0 victory in 1 hour, 50 minutes.
Photo: EPA
The Taiwanese saved six of 11 break-point opportunities and converted seven of 14 against an opponent who racked up 11 double faults to set up a semi-final today against either top seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark or Carina Witthoeft of Germany.
Wozniacki was leading their match 6-3, 2-0 as at press time last night.
In yesterday’s other quarter-finals, Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania upset eighth seed Julia Goerges of Germany 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 to set up a semi-final against fourth seed Jarmila Gajdosova after the Australian survived a second-set wobble to defeat sixth seed Kurumi Nara of Japan 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
In the semi-finals of the doubles, two-time champion Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan failed in her bid to reach a third final at the Royal Selangor Golf Club.
Chang and Zheng Saisai of China fell to a 7-6 (7/2), 6-1 defeat to Chinese duo Liang Chen and Wang Yafan, despite saving nine of 11 break-point chances in 1 hour, 13 minutes on Court 2.
Chang previously won the doubles title in Kuala Lumpur with fellow Taiwanese Chuang Chia-jung in 2012 and with Shuko Aoyama of Japan in 2013.
In tomorrow’s final, Liang and Wang face either top seeds Darija Jurak of Croatia and Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic or third-seeded Ukrainian duo Yuliya Beygelzimer and Olga Savchuk, who are due to play their semi-final today.
ABIERTO MONTERREY
AP, MONTERREY, Mexico
Fourth-seeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland advanced to the Abierto Monterrey Afirme quarter-finals on Thursday, beating Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Bacsinszky won the Mexico Open last week in Acapulco for her second WTA Tour title. She is to face Urszula Radwanska of Poland, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over seventh-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, in the hard-court event at Club Sonoma.
Third-seeded Caroline Garcia of France, the Acapulco runner-up, beat Francesca Schiavone of Italy 7-6 (7/2), 6-0 in the late match to set up a quarter-final against eighth-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.
Fifth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia also advanced, beating Johanna Larsson of Sweden. 6-4, 6-4. Pavlyuchenkova will play second-seeded Sara Errani of Italy.
In the other quarter-final, top-seeded defending champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia will play Kristina Mladenovic of France.
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