Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday stunned another former world No. 1 to advance to the semi-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the world No. 31’s second semi-final of this year.
Hsieh overcame a second-set rally by Czech fourth seed Karolina Pliskova and fought back from 5-1 down in the third set to complete a 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 victory in 1 hour, 59 minutes on Center Court at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium.
Pliskova fired down nine aces, but the Taiwanese No. 1 saved nine of 13 break points and converted four of eight, winning 67 percent of points on her first serve to give her a 1-1 career record against Pliskova following a 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7/4) defeat in Miami last year.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“[Pliskova] serves really big,” Hsieh said after the victory. “She makes ace almost every game. It was not easy to come back.”
“I say [to] myself: ‘OK, if she [does] not ace me, I hit [the] ball, hit so much harder than before, then she cannot hit a winner,’” Hsieh added.
It was Hsieh’s second consecutive victory over a former world No. 1 after her third-round 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 win over German fifth seed Angelique Kerber on Wednesday.
She is next to face second seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, who defeated Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova 6-4, 6-0.
“They haven’t played yet, so I will send my spy to watch [the] match,” Hsieh said after her match, which preceded the Czech’s victory.
In the second round of the doubles late on Wednesday, Taiwanese ninth seeds Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan rallied from a set down to outlast Kuzmova and Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 10-3 in 1 hour, 31 minutes.
The Taiwanese sisters saved three of six break points and converted five of 10, winning 77 of the 140 points contested to set up a quarter-final against Darija Jurak of Croatia and Raluca Olaru of Romania.
OPEN 13 PROVENCE
Taiwan’s Hsieh Cheng-peng, who is mourning after the death of his girlfriend, yesterday crashed out of the quarter-finals of the doubles at Open 13 Provence in Marseille, France.
Hsieh Cheng-peng and partner Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia fell to a 6-3, 6-2 defeat to third seeds Ben McLachlan of Japan and Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands in 52 minutes.
The Taiwanese, who is the younger brother of Hsieh Su-wei and won the Wimbledon boys’ doubles title in 2008, learned that his girlfriend, Chang Heng-mien, had been killed on the eve of his first-round match in France on Wednesday.
Chang had just set foot on a crosswalk when a bus allegedly knocked her down and drove over her in front of Chinese Culture University in Taipei’s Shilin District on Tuesday.
Chang was rushed to Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital for treatment, but was declared dead two hours later.
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