Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and her partner Timea Babos of Hungary crashed out of the quarter-finals of the Aegon International women’s doubles yesterday in Eastbourne, England.
World doubles No. 1 Hsieh was playing in her final warmup tournament before joining up with China’s Peng Shuai to defend their Wimbledon title next week.
Hsieh and Babos fell to a 6-2, 6-4 defeat against top-seeded Italian duo Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in 59 minutes in a match held over from the previous day.
Photo: AFP
Errani and Vinci were due to face Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan in the final match on Centre Court later yesterday in the semi-finals.
In the women’s singles on Thursday, former champions Caroline Wozniacki and Ekaterina Makarova headed in different directions in the quarter-finals.
Wozniacki, the champion in 2009, held off a strong challenge from Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-7 (7/9), 6-4, 6-2.
Photo: AFP
Makarova, the 2010 champion from Russia, fell to fifth-seed Angelique Kerber 6-2, 6-1, with the German avenging her second-round defeat to Makarova last year.
Meanwhile, 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova withdrew with a right-hamstring injury, but expects to play at Wimbledon next week.
Wozniacki and Giorgi were interrupted in the second set when a spectator was removed from the stands on a stretcher as Giorgi led 4-3 on serve.
Photo: AFP
When play resumed, Giorgi failed to win a break point to lead 5-3 and Wozniacki went on to win three straight games to level at one-set each.
Wozniacki remained under pressure in the final set, fighting off two break points, before breaking to lead 2-1. A double fault at 4-2 left Wozniacki serving for victory and in sight of her first title since October last year.
Kerber fought off four break points just to hold for 1-1, before taking charge against Makarova, breaking twice to take the set.
In the second set, she needed four break points to win the first game, before once more dominating Makarova.
“It was not as easy as the score said, because there were tough rallies,” Kerber said. “She’s a great player on grass, so I was just focusing on me, trying to be aggressive and take my chances. I did a good job.”
Kvitova’s withdrawal gave British wild-card Heather Watson a walkover into the semi-finals.
Watson meets Madison Keys, who beat fellow American Lauren Davis, a qualifier, 6-2, 6-1. Wozniacki faces Kerber.
Men’s top-seed Richard Gasquet also reached the semis, beating Slovak Martin Klizan 6-3, 6-4.
It is his third semi-final of the year and comes after he was sidelined for more than three months with a back injury.
The Frenchman, who claimed the title in 2005 and 2006 when the event was held in Nottingham, broke for 3-1.
That was enough to earn him the opening set and in the second set, he again fought off a break point, before breaking to lead 4-3.
Gasquet is playing only his third tournament since March and admits that although he is progressing, he is still not fully fit.
Gasquet next faces Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, who beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 7-6 (7/5), 6-2.
Spanish defending champion Feliciano Lopez defeated Jeremy Chardy of France 6-3, 6-4 yesterday after their match was canceled overnight due to rain.
Lopez faces Sam Querrey, after the American won his match against Frenchman Julien Benneteau 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 on Thursday.
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