Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday cruised into the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, while the Chan sisters’ poor start to the season continued as the Taiwanese second seeds crashed out.
Reigning champions Hsieh and Barbora Strycova took just 58 minutes to see off the challenge of unseeded Chinese duo Han Xinyun and Peng Shuai 6-2, 6-2 on the hard courts in the United Arab Emirates.
The top seeds converted six of nine break points and limited their opponents to a 40 percent success rate on their first serve as they advanced to a quarter-final against American pairing Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who recovered from a disastrous start to oust sixth seeds Kveta Peschke and Demi Schuurs 0-6, 6-0, 10-1 in 54 minutes.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Taiwanese duo Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan fell to a 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 defeat to another American pairing, Desirae Krawczyk and Alison Riske, in 1 hour, 19 minutes.
The second seeds also lost their opening matches in Brisbane and Hobart, Australia, last month, before putting together four victories to advance to the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
In the singles, Romanian top seed Simona Halep needed four match points to see off Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, squeezing into the quarter-finals 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (9/7).
“I don’t know how I was able to finish this,” said Halep, who had to save a match point to progress. “It was up and down because she doesn’t give rhythm. It was very weird, but I’m happy I could win.”
The Wimbledon champion’s win came after Karolina Pliskova and Garbine Muguruza re-established order among the top seeds after a run of upsets at the Aviation Club.
World No. 3 Pliskova strolled to a 6-1, 6-2 defeat of qualifier Kristina Mladenovic in barely an hour, before ninth seed Muguruza took almost two-and-a-half hours to get past Russian Veronika Kudermetova 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
Three big names had exited the day before — defending champion Belinda Bencic, third seed Elina Svitolina and Australian Open winner Kenin.
The tense Halep match resembled a Fed Cup tie, with rival groups of Tunisian and Romanian fans outshouting each other.
“It was like a football match or a Fed Cup match. I didn’t really realize what was going on on court,” Halep said. “Everyone was with a lot of energy, so we had to give our best. I think it was a great match.”
Wild-card Jabeur, ranked No. 45, came from 4-2 down in the final-set tiebreaker, missing a match point when she netted a forehand.
Halep, who lost the opening set in 26 minutes, eventually claimed the victory when Jabeur drove long.
“It was a very tough match, she played well,” Halep said. “I wanted to give all I had and just wanted to win. I didn’t give up, I’m proud I fought to the end.”
In the quarter-finals, Halep faces Belarusian seventh seed Aryna Sabalenka, who defeated doubles partner Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-4, 6-3.
Pliskova pegged back Mladenovic after the Frenchwoman had earned only her first main-draw win of the season in the first round.
“It’s always a tough one against her. We played in Australia, so I knew what to expect,” Pliskova said.
“I was not playing amazing, but still, even with a couple of mistakes, I didn’t give up. The score looked a little bit easier than it really was, we had a couple of tough games,” she added.
Muguruza went into her match two days after beating Kim Clijsters in the Belgian’s first WTA match since 2012.
“There’s a lot of things that I could have done better, but I’m excited that I gave myself another opportunity to be in the quarters,” the two-time Grand Slam champion said. “I’m just happy that I get these tough matches. Honestly, the difference is very, very small, I’m just pleased to go through.”
Muguruza was due to face Jennifer Brady, a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 winner against last year’s French Open runner-up Marketa Vondrousova.
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