Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Thursday cruised to her first ever WTA Tour semi-final on clay at the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem as her return to form continued in Rabat, Morocco.
Eighth seed Hsieh took just 60 minutes to complete an emphatic 6-1, 6-1 victory over 18-year-old Ukrainian wild-card Katarina Zavatska.
The 32-year-old Kaohsiung native saved one of two break points and converted six of 12, winning 56 of the 86 points contested in only her second ever quarter-final in a clay-court tournament.
Hsieh hit 21 winners to just 12 unforced errors and broke the world No. 260’s serve six times.
“She’s a great young player, but I just tried to play my game today,” Hsieh told the WTA Web site. “I did pretty well to put pressure on her, I think. I’m happy to get into the semi-finals.”
The former world No. 23 began the season outside the top 100, but a stellar performance at the Australian Open where she reached the fourth round and defeated two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza has helped her to claim the world No. 60 ranking.
The Taiwanese has also had success in the doubles after teaming up with Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic to win the BNP Paribas Open title in Indian Wells, California, in March.
Standing between Hsieh and a first singles final since 2012 is Belgian top seed Elise Mertens, who took 1 hour, 25 minutes to see off Italian Sara Errani 6-3, 6-1.
In the other quarter-finals, Serbian seventh seed Aleksandra Krunic advanced when Spain’s Paula Badosa Gibert retired while trailing 6-2, 1-0.
Krunic faces unseeded Ajla Tomljanovic in the other semi-final after the Australian rallied from a set down to overcome Jana Fett of Croatia 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in 2 hours, 12 minutes.
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