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
PALAU LAUNCHES: The source said that Taiwanese military personnel traveled to Palau, where a US brigade watched their work amid plans for a defense network The military last month participated in live-fire launches of MM-104F Patriot (PAC-3) missiles under US observation in an undisclosed location in Palau, a step forward in a US-led plan to create a joint defense missile system in the first island chain, a source said on condition of anonymity. The PAC-3 is the mainstay surface-to-air missile of the US, NATO and democratic nations in East Asia, the source said, adding that it has never been live-tested within Taiwan’s borders, the source said. The proximity of Taiwan to China and China’s close surveillance of the nation’s borders and nearby sea zones is a significant
IN MOURNING: Tsai visited the site and spoke with family members of those killed, while all the major presidential candidates said they would temporarily halt campaigning A fire and subsequent explosions at a golf ball factory at Pingtung Technology Industrial Park (屏東科技產業園區) killed at least seven people, including four firefighters, and injured 98, while three were still missing, authorities said yesterday. The blaze at Launch Technologies Co’s (明揚國際) plant on Jingjian Road raged for more than 12 hours after it started at about 5pm on Friday, officials said. The Pingtung County Fire Bureau early yesterday used large excavators to search for missing people, while family members waited at the scene. Pingtung County Fire Bureau Director Hsu Mei-hsueh (許美雪) said the bureau received a call about the fire at 5:31pm
DETERRENCE: The president on Thursday is to launch the first indigenous submarine, which is to enter sea trials next month before being delivered to the navy next year Taiwan hopes to deploy at least two new, domestically developed submarines by 2027, and possibly equip later models with missiles to bolster its deterrence against the Chinese navy and protect key supply lines, the head of the program said. Taiwan has made the Indigenous Submarine Program a key part of an ambitious project to modernize its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who initiated the program when she took office in 2016, is expected to launch the first of eight new submarines on Thursday under a plan that has drawn on expertise and technology from
FISHING FUROR: The latest spat was sparked by a floating barrier that was found across the entrance of Scarborough Shoal during a resupply mission to fishers Beijing yesterday warned Manila not to “stir up trouble” after the Philippine Coast Guard said it removed a floating barrier at a disputed reef that was allegedly deployed by China to block Filipino fishers from the area. Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in the South China Sea has long been a source of tension between the nations. China seized the ring of reefs from the Philippines in 2012 and has since deployed patrol boats. The latest spat was sparked by a 300m floating barrier that was found across the entrance of the shoal last week during a routine Philippine government resupply mission