Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Monday cruised into the second round of the women’s singles at Wimbledon, while Cori Gauff, at 15 the youngest-ever qualifier for the tournament, stunned five-time champion Venus Williams.
Hsieh, the 28th seed, took just 67 minutes to outfox former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 6-2 on Court 18.
The Taiwanese veteran, who provided the upset of last year’s tournament when she ousted Simona Halep, saved one of three break points and converted six of 14, while taking advantage of her opponent’s 35 unforced errors to knock out last year’s semi-finalist from Latvia.
Photo: Reuters
Hsieh next faces another former Wimbledon semi-finalist, Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, who defeated DalilaJakupovic of Slovenia 6-1, 6-3 in 62 minutes on Court 7.
Gauff, not content with just beating Williams, said that she now wants to win the title.
The teenage American, who was not even born when Williams won her first two Wimbledon singles titles, showed no fear on Court 1, making light of the 24 years age difference and her ranking of No. 313 as she eased to a 6-4, 6-4 victory.
Photo: AFP
Gauff made no bones about her ambitions at the tournament.
“My goal is to win it,” she said. “I said this before: I want to be the greatest. My dad told me that I could do this when I was eight. I’m still, like, not 100 percent confident, but you never know what happens.”
Gauff said that she was determined to make the most of her opportunities.
“I mean, like my motto is just like wing it,” she said. “I’ve said that before. This is kind of a sad thing, we’re all going to die one day, I just want to make the most of it.”
Gauff, who revealed Rihanna and Beyonce were her role models off the court, said that she had not allowed her admiration of childhood idol Williams to affect her play.
However, she did have a slight wobble at the end when she let slip three match points.
Williams, whose exploits along with her younger sister Serena inspired Gauff to take up the sport, made no secret of how far Gauff could go.
“I think the sky’s the limit, it really is,” Williams said. “Just have fun. Enjoy life. That’s all you can do.”
Gauff, who said that Roger Federer had been a big help too re-energising her and could claim some credit for her winning the French Open junior title last year, said she had finally been able to muster the courage to address one of the Williams sisters after twice failing to prior to that.
“I was just telling her thank you for everything she’s done,” Gauff said. “She and her sister have been, like, heroes for me and many other little girls out there. I was just thanking her.”
Gauff sank into her chair and cried in the immediate aftermath of the victory. Later, she recalled the previous time she had been reduced to tears.
“The movie Endgame when Ironman died, I was crying,” she said. “Every time I think of it, I get teary-eyed because I really liked Ironman.”
Gauff, though, said that there is another side of her when she is off the court.
“I’m definitely really goofy off the court,” she said. “I’m always cracking jokes. I was practicing, people were taking pictures of me. Actually quite a few people. I was actually, like, smiling. The pros who have been here for a long time, they’re serious, but I can’t just help laugh because it’s weird for people to take pictures of me and not smile.”
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