Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei has been branded an upset specialist so far this year, but it might be time to start thinking of her as a legitimate contender for WTA Tour titles.
Two days after humbling world No. 1 Naomi Osaka in three sets at the Miami Open, the cagey 33-year-old veteran on Monday topped former world No. 1 and 13th seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-3, 6-7 (0/7), 6-2 in their round-of-16 match.
It was her fifth victory against a top-20 player this year and sent her to the first quarter-final of a WTA Premier Mandatory event in her career, where she was due to face 21st seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.
Photo: EPA-EFE
That followed a strong showing at the Dubai Open, where she best the 10th, fifth and fourth seeds to reach the semi-final of a WTA Premier 5 event for the first time.
Hsieh endured several shifts in momentum to secure victory against the Dane.
Twice within two points of victory in the second set on Wozniacki’s serve, Hsieh lost 11 of the final 12 points, including all seven in the tiebreaker, but she regained her touch at the start of the third, losing only two points in the first four games.
Prior to shocking British seventh seed Johanna Konta at the French Open in 2017, Hsieh was best known as a doubles specialist.
She was ranked No. 1 in doubles after winning Wimbledon in 2013 and the French Open in 2014 with Peng Shuai of China.
She was ranked as high as world No. 23 in singles in 2013, but had never defeated a top-10 player until ousting Konta.
Hsieh then went on to upset world No. 3 Garbine Muguruza of Spain and former world No. 1 Agnieszka Radwanska at last year’s Australian Open, before stunning world No. 1 Simona Halep of Romania at Wimbledon the same year to signal her arrival as a real singles threat.
The 33-year-old said after her win over Osaka that the constant support she has from her traveling team, including boyfriend Frederic Aniere, has been a blessing.
“I was traveling [by] myself for a long time. I had a part-time coach. It wasn’t easy for a player to play in the [WTA] Tour when they don’t get a sponsor or they don’t get help,” she told the WTA Web site.
Though she has been worn down occasionally at the end of matches, Hsieh has shown unprecedented resilience in third sets, including coming from 5-1 down to stun fourth seed Karolina Pliskova in Dubai.
That might stem from a more regular fitness regimen.
“A long time ago I was doing less fitness and my tennis level was not going good like this year. The fitness was not very good,” Hsieh said.
In the second round of the women’s doubles, Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan advanced to the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-2 win over unseeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands.
The eighth seeds saved seven of 11 break points and also converted seven of 11 to advance to a clash with Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and Daria Kasatkina of Russia, who edged Shuko Aoyama of Japan and Lidziya Marozava of Belarus 6-3, 3-6, 15-13.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that