Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday exited the Wuhan Open in the second round of the singles after falling to a straight-sets defeat to Svetlana Kuznetsova, while the Chan sisters continued their winning streak to advance to the second round of the doubles.
World No. 32 Hsieh lost the first set against two-time Grand Slam champion Kuznetsova and, despite a spirited fightback in the second, she succumbed to a 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) defeat in 1 hour, 30 minutes on the hard courts in China.
The Russian saved two of four break points and converted four of eight, winning 73 percent of her second serves to improve her career record over Hsieh to 3-0 in their first match on the WTA Tour since two meetings back in 2013.
Photo: AFP
Taiwanese sixth seeds Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan, fresh from claiming their fourth title of the season at the Pan Pacific Open in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday, took just 67 minutes to complete a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Alison Riske of the US and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia in the first round of the doubles.
The Chan sisters saved two of four break points and converted five of eight to set up a second-round clash with Anna Blinkova of Russia and Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic.
Hsieh for the rest of week will also be concentrating on the doubles, in which she is seeded No. 1 alongside Czech partner Barbora Strycova, who yesterday also exited the singles to fourth seed Simona Halep.
Halep said that winning her first Wimbledon title this year meant “everything,” but that she was determined to have a better Asian swing than in past years.
Halep suffered opening-round exits in three of her previous five appearances at the event — including the past two seasons — but was dominant in a 6-3, 6-2 triumph over Wimbledon semi-finalist Strycova, who committed 30 unforced errors.
A solid contender for clinching one of the six remaining spots in the WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China, world No. 6 Halep also has a shot at finishing the year as world No. 1 for a third consecutive season with a strong finish to the season in Asia.
“Very, very tough goals honestly. After winning Wimbledon, I was a little bit let’s say more relaxed in results, making big results, but I’m still motivated. I’m working hard,” said Halep, who next faces Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina for a place in the quarter-finals.
“For this period I just want to be better because every year I promised myself that I will do the best I can, and I couldn’t for different reasons,” she said. “Now I feel healthy, I feel motivated, I feel fresh. I just want to go there and win every match I play.”
Halep is to be reunited with coach Darren Cahill from the start of next year and the Romanian is convinced they can pick up where they left off last year when the Australian helped her win a maiden Grand Slam title at the French Open.
“I’m really happy and I feel confident that next year I can do some good things again,” she said.
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