Hsieh Su-wei’s new doubles partnership with Flavia Pennetta did not get off to the start she would have wished for on Thursday, as the fourth seeds crashed out in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California.
The Taiwanese-Italian duo, playing a competitive match as a partnership for the first time, got off to a slow start against Klaudia Jans-Ignacik of Poland and Andreja Klepac of Slovenia, failing to convert any of the eight break-point chances they created in the first set, as their opponents converted two of three to take a 6-1 lead.
Hsieh and Pennetta bounced back in the second set, saving all six break-point opportunities they faced and converting one of the four they created to win 6-3 and level the match.
Photo: EPA
However, they could not maintain the momentum in the super tiebreak, eventually falling to a 6-1, 3-6, 10-8 defeat in 1 hour, 11 minutes at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung also crashed out in the first round of the women’s doubles on Thursday, despite winning the first set against the No. 2 seeds.
Chuang and Silvia Soler Espinosa of Spain won the first set 6-4 against Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, but the Russian duo roared back to claim the second set 6-0 and completed the victory by winning the super tiebreak 10-8.
Photo: AFP
Makarova and Vesnina converted six of the eight break-point opportunities they created to complete the victory in 1 hour, 16 minutes, as all the Taiwanese women exited in the first round of the doubles at the joint ATP and WTA tournament.
Taiwanese hopes in California were all pinned on Lu Yen-hsun, who was due to face Jack Sock of the US in the first round of the men’s singles yesterday.
Playing competitive tennis for the first time in more than 18 months on Thursday, Mardy Fish battled for 2 hours, 36 minutes before losing to fellow American Ryan Harrison, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/3) in the first round of the men’s singles.
Fish had two match points at 15-40 in the 10th game of the third set, but Harrison wiggled free.
After both held serve to force the 12-point tiebreaker, Harrison won three points in a row to go up 5-2. Fish’s double fault gave Harrison match point and the 22-year-old closed it out with an ace.
The 33-year-old Fish, once ranked seventh in the world, had not played on the ATP Tour since Aug. 20, 2013, because of heart problems that have plagued him since March 2012.
A finalist in 2008 in Indian Wells, when he lost to Novak Djokovic, Fish said that despite the long layoff, the loss to Harrison “stings a little bit.”
However, there were positives.
“I’ve worked really hard in the past three-and-a-half months to get back in shape,” Fish said, “So I don’t have any issues, sort of, during a match or after a match. I worked extremely hard to put myself in the best position to not have to worry about things when I was out there — if I was out of shape or if I didn’t feel well, or if it was going to be a long match or a hot match, or something like that, when a lot more things creep into your head,” he said.
Wild-card Tim Smyczek of the US was among those advancing as the men began the first round of the singles, but two-time champion Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia was among those eliminated on the second day of women’s singles action.
The 2002 and 2007 winner was a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 loser to Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic.
Russia’s Vera Zvonareva, the 2009 champion, also lost, 6-1, 6-1, to qualifier Polona Hercog of Slovakia, while Chinese qualifier Lin Zhu ousted 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy.
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