Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Monday survived a fightback by Viktorija Golubic to advance to the second round of the women’s singles at the French Open, while younger brother Hsieh Cheng-peng yesterday advanced to the second round of the men’s doubles.
Hsieh Su-wei, seeded 25th, defeated Swiss world No. 79 Golubic 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 in 1 hour, 40 minutes on the clay courts at Roland Garros.
The Taiwanese world No. 25 saved seven of 14 break points and converted nine of 14, hitting 31 winners to advance, despite her 36 unforced errors.
Photo: AFP
She next faces German world No. 69 Andrea Petkovic, who rallied to defeat Alison Riske of the US 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in 2 hours, 14 minutes.
It will be Hsieh Su-wei’s first-ever meeting with Petkovic, who has won six WTA Tour singles titles.
In the first round of the men’s doubles, Hsieh Cheng-peng and Christopher Rungkat yesterday defeated 16th seeds Austin Krajicek of the US and Artem Sitak of New Zealand 6-3, 6-4 in 69 minutes.
The Taiwanese-Indonesian duo saved all three break points they faced and converted two of five, winning 60 percent of their points on second serve.
Eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro yesterday recovered from a set down against Chilean Nicolas Jarry to ease into the second round.
The former US Open champion, who only returned to action after a knee injury earlier this month, came through his opening match in Paris 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.
The Argentinian next faces either Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka or the US’ Mackenzie McDonald in round two.
Bernard Tomic yesterday suffered a dispiriting exit from Roland Garros and admitted Australian compatriot Nick Kyrgios was right to say that the tournament “sucks.”
Tomic slumped to a 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 defeat by Taylor Fritz of the US, leaving him with just three wins this season.
The final set on a chilly and damp Court 14 was over in just 20 minutes and the match in 88 minutes, the quickest of the tournament so far.
Fellow firebrand Kyrgios last week withdrew from Roland Garros with an elbow injury, but not before saying: “Get rid of the clay, man. Who likes the clay, it is so bad. The French Open sucks compared to this place. Sucks. Absolute sucks.”
Tomic, never far from controversy, was happy to concur.
“I agree with him, with everything,” he said during a monosyllabic news conference.
Tomic’s lack of enthusiasm for the task in hand was encapsulated on match point where a serve that he thought was out led him to the net to offer his hand.
“I thought the match was over. It would be nice to give him the point because that’s how I felt, but it’s okay. We replayed it,” Tomic said.
Accused in the past of not trying in matches and once dubbed by the Australian media as “Tomic the tank engine,” he insisted that he was at 100 percent yesterday.
“Pretty sure I did [give my best]. But, you know, the surface is not good for me,” he said. “I mean, it’s not difficult. It’s just my game is not built for this surface.”
The fiery Australian, who shot to fame by making the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2011 and went on to reach the world top 20, arrived in Paris deep in another slump.
The world No. 84 retired with illness at Lyon last week against world No. 262 Steven Diez of Canada.
For Fritz, it was a first career win at Roland Garros and backed up a solid season on European clay.
The 21-year-old American, ranked 42, was a semi-finalist in Lyon last week, losing to eventual champion Benoit Paire.
He also qualified for the Madrid and Rome Masters before falling to Novak Djokovic and Kei Nishikori respectively.
The city is also special for the American — back in 2016, he proposed to his girlfriend Raquel Pedraza in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. The two are now married with a son, Jordan.
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