Two-time Grand Slam champions Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai won their first doubles match of the year on Thursday to advance to the second round of the Miami Open, while top seed Serena Williams launched her bid for a ninth singles title in Key Biscayne.
Hsieh and Peng defeated Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Coco Vandeweghe of the US 6-4, 6-2 in 68 minutes in the first round of the doubles at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park.
The Taiwanese-Chinese duo saved six of seven break points and converted four of seven, taking advantage of their opponents’ eight doubles faults to win 58 of the 104 points contested.
Photo: Courtesy of the Siwei Foundation
“I started in the second half of last year and only participated in five doubles [tournaments]. Peng Shuai went through back surgery twice to get back on track,” Hsieh wrote on Facebook. “Doubles for me now is a whole new world, I’m getting back the feeling of the game step by step. Victory today gives us a great start. We will continue to work hard.”
Hsieh and Peng, who won the Wimbledon doubles title in 2013 and the French Open title in 2014, next face either second-seeded Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan or Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic.
In the women’s singles, world No. 1 Williams defeated fellow American Christina McHale 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.
Three-time defending champion had the match on her racket before having to withstand a fightback from her 23-year-old rival, taking 2 hours, 7 minutes to reach the third round.
“She just started playing better, the kind of tennis she’s never played before,” Williams said. “I made a few mistakes and then I had to pull myself back together. I feel like I was just playing, but it’s all right. I’m back now and I’m going.”
Williams, who watched tournaments at the hard-court event as a child, next faces Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan, who ousted Australia’s Daria Gavrilova 7-5, 6-3.
Williams fired 13 aces and 36 winners with 43 unforced errors, while McHale responded with seven aces and 26 winners against 31 unforced errors.
Asked if she took McHale too lightly, Williams replied: “I don’t underestimate anyone.”
Williams, whose back-to-back finals losses at the Australian Open and Indian Wells were her first since 2004, served for the match in the 10th game of the second set, but netted a backhand to surrender a break.
McHale held and won the first three points of the 12th game off Williams’ serve. The 34-year-old pulled back two, but swatted a forehand wide to force a third set.
“She definitely started fighting back and she’s clearly capable of playing great tennis,” Williams said.
McHale denied Williams on three break points to hold the first game of the final set, but Williams broke in the third game and smashed a backhand service return winner to break again in the seventh.
Williams had to fight off two break points in the final game, saving one with her 12th ace and the other with a service winner, before blasting her 13th ace on match point to finally advance.
Two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova also reached the third round with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over world No. 83 Irina Falconi of the US.
“I served pretty well,” the Czech eighth seed said. “She played better in the second set and that’s what made it tougher. It’s always a little bit tricky when it’s someone you have never played before.”
Kvitova next faces Russian 30th seed Makarova, who ousted Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
British wild-card Heather Watson ousted 20th seed Sloane Stephens of the US 6-3, 6-0. She next faces Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer.
In the men’s singles, Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin rallied to beat Croatia’s Borna Coric 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 to book a clash with British second seed Andy Murray, who won their only previous two matches back in 2013.
Spanish fifth seed Rafael Nadal opens today against Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur, who rallied past Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori is to play his second-round match against French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who downed Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-4.
Japanese qualifier Tatsuma Ito beat Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 to book a second-round match with another Frenchman, 16th seed Gael Monfils.
Yesterday, 17-time Grand Slam singles champion Roger Federer was due to return from an eight-week layoff for left knee surgery against Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro, himself in only his third event back from a lengthy layoff after left-wrist surgery.
The Swiss star has a 15-5 career edge on Del Potro, but the South American won their biggest matchup in the 2009 US Open final.
World No. 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic, seeking his third straight Miami Open crown and his sixth overall, was due to begin his title quest yesterday against British world No. 87 Kyle Edmund.
Djokovic won last weekend at Indian Wells after taking his 11th Grand Slam title in January at the Australian Open.
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