Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) on Saturday won her third Wimbledon women’s doubles title when she and Belgian partner Elise Mertens defeated Russia’s Elena Vesnina and Veronika Kudermetova.
“It’s not always easy to play in the final, and the opponent will fight super hard,” Hsieh said ahead of the match. “We all know it’s the last match so we will fight until the last point definitely.”
Her determination paid off for the third-seeded pair, who were competing in their fifth tournament together. They saved two match points in the second set to win 3-6, 7-5, 9-7.
Photo: Reuters
Unseeded Kudermetova and Vesnina had two match points at 5-4 in the second set, the second one producing an incredible rally that Hsieh eventually won with a volley.
As the third set dragged on, 35-year-old Hsieh finished off a gripping contest with a backhand winner.
Hsieh and Mertens clinched a back-and-forth third set when Hsieh hit a backhand winner to break Vesnina’s serve.
Photo: AFP
“Some of her volleys, I can’t do. She’s a magician,” Mertens, the world’s No. 1 doubles player, said of Hsieh.
“That felt like seven hours,” Mertens said of the two-and-a-half-hour battle on a packed Centre Court. “There were nerves, but we managed it well in the end... We are very happy that we could close it out.”
“It was such a tough match,” Mertens added. “We just kept going... We never gave up. That’s the fighting spirit we had today that maybe made with the difference.’’
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday sent a message to congratulate Hsieh on her achievement.
She said on Twitter that Hsieh’s victory at Wimbledon would inspire the next generation of tennis players in Taiwan and around the world.
The Sports Administration also offered its congratulations and promised to continue to support tennis players as they work to achieve a higher global ranking.
Hsieh won her previous Wimbledon doubles titles with different partners. It was a first for Mertens, who has also won the Australian Open and US Open doubles.
Hsieh won the 2013 Wimbledon title with China’s Peng Shuai and the 2019 trophy alongside Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan
CALL FOR PEACE: Czech President Petr Pavel raised concerns about China’s military maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait and its ‘unfriendly action’ in the South China Sea The leaders of three diplomatic allies — Guatemala, Paraguay and Palau — on Tuesday voiced support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN on the first day of the UN General Debate in New York. In his address during the 78th UN General Assembly, Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr urged the UN and all parties involved in cross-strait issues to exercise restraint and seek a peaceful resolution. “The well-being and prosperity of nations and their economies are intrinsically linked to global peace and stability,” he said. He also thanked partner nations such as Taiwan, Australia, Japan and the US for providing assistance
CROSS-STRAIT CONCERNS: At the same US Congress hearing, Mira Resnick said a US government shutdown could affect weapons sales and licenses to allies such as Taiwan A Chinese blockade of Taiwan would be a “monster risk” for Beijing and likely to fail, while a military invasion would be extremely difficult, senior Pentagon officials told the US Congress on Tuesday. Growing worries of a conflict come as China has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan, holding large-scale war games simulating a blockade on the nation, while conducting near-daily warplane incursions and sending Chinese vessels around its waters. US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner said a blockade would be “a monster risk for the PRC [People’s Republic of China].” “It would likely not succeed, and it
IMPORTS: Fifty-four million imported eggs with a value of more than NT$200 million had to be destroyed, mostly because they expired in storage facilities Minister of Agriculture Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) last night announced that he would resign from his post. Local media on Sunday reported that Chen had resigned due to controversy over the ministry’s egg import program. Later that same evening, the Executive Yuan said that Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) had asked the minister to stay on to resolve the issue. Chen Chi-chung last night made public his decision to resign on Facebook, saying that this time he would not be dissuaded. Chen Chi-chung earlier yesterday apologized for the furor surrounding the egg import program, but added that misinformation had made the problems worse. The government was
‘HARASSMENT’: A record 103 Chinese warplanes were detected in 24 hours, posing severe challenges to security in the Taiwan Strait and the region, the ministry said Taiwan yesterday told China to stop its “destructive unilateral actions” after more than 100 Chinese warplanes and nine navy ships were detected in areas around the nation. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) described the number of warplanes detected in 24 hours as a “recent high,” while Beijing has so far refrained from issuing any official comment on the sorties. “Between the morning of September 17th to 18th, the Ministry of National Defense had detected a total of 103 Chinese aircraft, which was a recent high and has posed severe challenges to the security across the Taiwan Strait and in the region,”
RSS