Hsieh Su-wei rallied from a set down to advance to a first-ever meeting with world No. 1 Serena Williams at the Australian Open yesterday, while fellow Taiwanese Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan were handed the second seeding in the women’s doubles at Melbourne Park.
World No. 90 Hsieh fought back from 3-6, 0-4 down against Latvian world No. 81 Jelena Ostapenko, completing a 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory in a minute short of two hours on Court 5.
The Taiwanese saved seven of 13 break points and converted eight of 12, taking advantage of her opponent’s 15 double faults and 62 unforced errors to win 104 of the 197 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with 21-time Grand Slam winner Williams.
Photo: AFP
The Kaohsiung-born 30-year-old, who won her only two WTA Tour singles titles in Kuala Lumpur and Guangzhou in 2012, but who has two Grand Slam doubles titles to her name, will have nothing to lose against the world’s top-ranked player, who has won 69 singles titles.
In the women’s doubles, the second-seeded Chan sisters were drawn against Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands in the first round.
Hsieh and her partner, Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia, were also placed and the bottom half of the draw. They face a tough opener against Japanese duo Misaki Doi and Nao Hibino.
Fellow Taiwanese Chuang Chia-jung and Chan Chin-wei were placed in the top half of the draw along with top seeds and hot favorites Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Sania Mirza of India.
Chuang and Olga Govortsova of Belarus were drawn against 13th seeds Julia Goerges of Germany and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, while Chan Chin-wei and Kurumi Nara of Japan face Vania King of the US and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia.
In the men’s doubles, Taiwanese pairing Hsieh Cheng-peng and Yang Tsung-hua were drawn against Daniel Nestor of Canada and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
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