Taiwanese No. 1 Hsieh Su-wei survived a scare to advance to the second round of the singles at the Korea Open in Seoul yesterday, before teaming up with younger sister Hsieh Shu-ying to advance to the quarter-finals of the doubles.
Hsieh, who claimed her third career singles title at the Japan Women’s Open in Hiroshima on Sunday, had to fight back from a set down to overcome Swiss qualifier Jil Teichmann 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/0) in 2 hours, 12 minutes.
The Taiwanese sixth seed, who rose to No. 29 in the world rankings following her victory in Japan, saved 13 of 16 break points and converted three of nine, winning 110 of the 209 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with another Swiss, Stefanie Voegele, who ousted South Korean wild-card Choi Jee-hi 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 on Monday.
Photo: AFP
Hsieh then returned to the hard courts alongside her sister in the first round of the doubles as they took 74 minutes to defeat Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek 6-4, 6-4.
The Taiwanese sisters saved four of eight break points and converted six of eight, winning 61 of the 117 points contested.
In the other first-round singles matches, Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland progressed with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US; Romanian seventh seed Irina-Camelia Begu defeated German qualifier Mona Barthel 7-5, 6-4; Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova shocked world No. 68 Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-1, 6-2; and Australian Ajla Tomljanovic rallied from a set down to upset Belgian fifth seed Alison van Uytvanck 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.
Australian qualifier Priscilla Hon and Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic also bounced back from losing their opening sets before recovering to oust South Koreans Jang Su-jeong and Han Na-lae respectively.
By the time Cameron Menzies finally left the arena on Monday, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand had trickled down his wrist, part of his forearm and — somehow — up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappeared down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of Professional Darts Corp (PDC). The physical scars from Menzies’ encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby at the Darts World Championship would be gone within a few weeks.
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