Two Taiwanese tennis stars faced each other at the WTA Connecticut Open yesterday, with Chuang Chia-jung defeating Hsieh Su-wei and gaining a measure of revenge for her untimely exit from the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
In their women’s doubles quarter-final at the Connecticut Tennis Center in New Haven, Chuang and Katerina Bondarenko of Ukraine defeated Hsieh and Andrea Petkovic of Germany 7-5, 1-6, 11-9.
Chuang and Bondarenko next face Hungary’s Timea Babos and Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova in the semi-finals.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
Taiwan’s media played up the match between Chuang and Hsieh, billing it as a game of “former friends turned adversaries,” after their relationship reportedly deteriorated following Hsieh’s decision to withdraw from the Rio Olympics.
Hsieh, who was Chuang’s doubles partner for the Games, announced her withdrawal from the Olympics following a row with officials from the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee on Aug. 4.
Hsieh’s unilateral decision meant Chuang was unable to compete. She too was forced to withdraw and sat on the sidelines of the competition.
The situation led to reports of Chuang’s resentment toward Hsieh, which was confirmed when they split up their doubles partnership.
At the time, Chuang told reporters that Hsieh could have informed her of the decision earlier so that she could have time to pair up with another player for the women’s Olympic doubles.
After the match in New Haven yesterday, Hsieh explained her decision to pull out of the Rio Olympics in a post on her Facebook page.
Hsieh later removed the post, and replaced it with a new post congratulating Chuang on her win.
In related news, Taiwan’s top male player, Lu Yen-hsun, ended his good run when he was beaten by Roberto Agut of Spain 3-6, 2-6 in the quarter-finals of the ATP Winston-Salem Open.
Lu had won three straight in earlier rounds, with a triumph over Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko 7-6, 6-3, a win over Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-2, 6-4, and knocking off Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-0.
It was the fourth consecutive year that Lu had advanced into the Winston-Salem quarter-finals.
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