Nearly three months after their respective comebacks, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and the Czech Republic’s Barbora Strycova won their second Wimbledon doubles title as a pairing by beating Belgium’s Elise Mertens and Australia’s Storm Hunter 7-5, 6-4 on Centre Court on Sunday.
Hsieh and Strycova lost the first two games, but gained momentum and came back to take the first set.
Hsieh converted their second match point with a backhand as the 2019 champions broke in the final game of the second set.
Photo: AP
Hsieh and Strycova are both 37, making them the oldest women’s doubles pair by combined age to even reach a Grand Slam final, breaking a mark set by Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond, who were 35 and 38 respectively when they won the US Open in 2021.
Strycova said she expects this to be her last Wimbledon.
“I couldn’t ask for a better finish,” Strycova said. “Last year I texted Su-wei: ‘Let’s try to play Wimbledon 2023 just to come back and feel the atmosphere. There is no COVID anymore.’ She was like: ‘Yeah, let’s do that. Let’s just have fun.’ Here we are with the trophy. It’s crazy.”
Hsieh has won the women’s doubles title three times at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament, lifting the trophy in 2013, 2019 and 2021 with Peng Shuai (彭帥) of China, Strycova and Mertens respectively.
It is also a second straight Grand Slam title for Hsieh, who teamed up with China’s Wang Xinyu (王欣瑜) to win the French Open doubles tournament last month.
Hsieh did not compete for about 18 months after sustaining an injury during the Courmayeur Ladies Open women’s singles in Italy in October 2021, while Strycova came out of retirement after giving birth to a son.
Hsieh and Strycova returned to the sport in April, debuting in the Madrid Open women’s doubles together, where they reached the quarter-finals.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with CNA
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