Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and China’s Peng Shuai advanced to the second round of the US Open women’s doubles on Friday after defeating their opponents in straight sets.
Hsieh and Peng beat Eleni Daniilidou of Greece and Alexandra Panova of Russia 6-3, 6-4.
Hsieh, who was ousted from the women’s singles by Italy’s Camila Giorgi in a second-round match the previous day, said she was more relaxed in the doubles games as she had a strong partner beside her.
The 27-year-old said she was physically and mentally exhausted after Thursday’s game, but will pull herself together for the upcoming games.
Hsieh teamed up with Peng to win the women’s doubles at Wimbledon this year, becoming the first Taiwanese tennis player to win a Grand Slam title of any kind.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun lost 3-6, 4-6, 6-7 to 13th seed Tommy Haas of Germany in the second round of the men’s singles on Friday.
Lu, currently 60th in the men’s world singles rankings, said after the game that he did well on his serve and baseline shots, but lacked confidence during key sets and was not able to seize the chance in those sets to turn the game around.
Lu and Hsieh, who is ranked 40th among the women, are the only two Taiwanese players who made the main singles draws at this year’s US Open.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese sisters Chan Yung-jan and Chan Hao-ching both advanced to the second round of the mixed doubles after defeating their opponents in straight sets.
Chan Yung-jan and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden won 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) against Switzerland’s Martina Hingis and India’s Mahesh Bhupathi, while Chan Hao-ching and Martin Emmrich of Germany beat the US’ Sloane Stephens and Jack Sock 6-4, 6-4.
Chan Yung-jan said it was a dream come true for her to play against her idol Hingis.
“Although it was not the biggest victory of my tennis career, it was a very symbolic game for me,” Chan said.
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