Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia claimed a spot in the Malaysian Open doubles semi-finals on another rain-hit day at the Royal Selangor Golf Club in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Hsieh and Gajdosova won a “battle of the Taiwanese” in the quarter-finals, claiming a 6-3, 6-3 straight-sets victory over Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei and Xu Yi-fan of China in just under an hour.
Rain interrupted the match with Hsieh and Gajdosova leading 6-3, but 1-2 down to a break of serve in the second set. Hsieh and Gajdosova saved seven of nine break-point chances and converted five out of five for their second consecutive straight-sets victory.
Hsieh also bounced back from a losing position in the first round of the singles, against doubles partner Gajdosova, and said the rain helps her play better.
“The win brings back memories of my first Tour title in Kuala Lumpur two years ago. Every time it rains I play better, so I hope for good results here,” Hsieh told the tournament Web site on Tuesday after her singles match.
“I was making a lot of mistakes in the first set. I could not hit proper balls, while Jarmila was doing so well. The rain, however, threw me a lifeline,” the 2012 Malaysian Open champion said.
Earlier, third seeds Hsieh and Gajdosova completed a 6-3, 6-4 victory in their rain-delayed first-round match against Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and Rika Fujiwara of Japan, while Chan Chin-wei and Xu defeated Japanese duo Erika Sema and Yurika Sema 6-3, 5-7, 10-8.
Also in the first round of the doubles yesterday, Hsieh Su-wei’s younger sister, Hsieh Shu-ying, and Arina Rodionova of Australia battled back from a set down to beat Japanese pairing Eri Hozumi and Miki Miyamura 6-7 (0/7), 6-2, 10-3.
The younger Hsieh and Rodionova saved four of eight break-point chances and converted six of 12 to set up another Taiwanese showdown in the quarter-finals against Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Zheng Saisai of China.
Chan Yung-jan’s younger sister, Chan Hao-ching, and her partner Timea Babos of Hungary, the top seeds in Malaysia, were due to face Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Ana Vrljic of Croatia in the first round late last night.
The elder Hsieh’s attention today, weather permitting, will turn to the singles as she faces top seed Dominika Cibulkova in the second round after the Slovakian defeated Pemra Ozgen of Turkey 6-1, 6-3 in her first-round match yesterday.
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