Reigning champion Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the French Open on Monday.
Taiwan’s Hsieh and Flavia Pennetta of Italy defeated Janette Husarova of Slovakia and Paula Kania of Poland 6-3, 7-5 on Court Three at Roland Garros in the third round in Paris.
World No. 10 Hsieh, who won the French Open women’s doubles title last year with Peng Shuai of China, and world No. 12 Pennetta, who is also a Grand Slam champion, having won the Australian Open in 2011 with Gisela Dulko of Argentina, saved four of eight break-point chances and converted seven of 14 in the straight-sets victory.
The fourth seeds won 77 of the 140 points contested to set up a quarter-final against ninth-seeded Czech duo Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, who knocked out Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 on Sunday.
Should Hsieh and Pennetta advance to the semi-finals, they could find themselves up against their former partners, Sania Mirza of India and Martina Hingis of Switzerland, the top seeds at Roland Garros this year.
In the final match on Court Three on Monday, Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and John Peers of Australia were beaten in the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles 6-4, 6-4 by Zheng Jie of China and Henri Kontinen of Finland.
After facing her younger sister Hao-ching in the opening round of the mixed doubles, Chan Yung-jan was ousted by her women’s doubles partner Zheng in the quarter-finals, with the Chinese-Finnish duo saving two of three break-point chances and converting three of seven to advance to the semi-finals.
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