Taiwanese veteran Hsieh Su-wei on Thursday came through a tough match against young Russian Varvara Gracheva to advance to the quarter-finals of the Citi Open in Washington.
It took the fourth seed 2 hours, 39 minutes to defeat world No. 211 Gracheva 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (8/6) on the Grandstand court, leaving her as the only seeded player in the singles.
Hsieh needed three grueling sets to outlast Gracheva and book her spot in the final eight.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The 18-year-old Russian late last month qualified for the main-round event of the Citi Open and won her first WTA singles main-round match by defeating fellow Russian Anna Blinkova in three sets in the previous round.
Hsieh is next to play another upcoming young star, 17-year-old American Catherine McNally, who won her first Grand Slam junior title at last year’s French Open doubles event.
“Don’t tell me her age,” Hsieh told reporters when about her next opponent. “I don’t want to know this.”
“The new generation is different from my generation, because now they are more powerful and they have better assistants to help them, and you can see there are so many young girls coming on the tour that play really well,” Hsieh said.
“They know every shot, they can serve with speed,” she added. “I don’t want to see the number on the [service speed] board.”
Hsieh is coming off winning her third doubles title at Wimbledon last month, an achievement she did not entirely expect.
“I don’t know, but I was, like, surprised,” Hsieh said. “It was an amazing moment to win again with Barbora [Strycova], because we were helping each other and supporting each other and we were smiling on the court. Everything was really, really good.”
“You know, after I have two Grand Slam doubles [titles], I was thinking I would not get too excited after I win another one,” said Hsieh, who won 2013 Wimbledon and 2014 Roland Garros with Peng Shuai. “But that was pretty exciting.”
Asked about her goals for the North American swing, Hsieh said: “Sleep good, eat good and I hope I can go to the museum and the zoo, and try to find a steak to eat. Steak is famous American food, right?”
McNally on Thursday fought through chest congestion and fatigue from also playing doubles to advance to her first-ever quarter-final with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win over fellow American Christina McHale.
“I haven’t gone to bed — the past few nights I got to bed at like 1am because of doubles,” McNally said. “For me, I think it just is a reality of what the tour is like.”
Meanwhile, Italian Camila Giorgi beat Swede Rebecca Peterson 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to set up a quarter-final matchup with Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan, who upset fifth seed Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4.
In the men’s singles, Australian Nick Kyrgios blasted 15 aces to blow past Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2, 7-5 and reach the quarter-finals.
Kyrgios was dominant on serve as he enjoyed his least-stressful match of the tournament thus far. He was broken on service just once by Nishioka and won 85 percent of his first serves.
Kyrgios is next to face unseeded Slovakian Norbert Gombos.
Top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece overcame an uneven performance to take down Australian Jordan Thompson 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).
The 20-year-old Tsitsipas will next take on Frenchman Benoit Paire, who outmatched fifth-seeded American John Isner 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
Eighth seed Milos Raonic was upset by German Peter Gojowczyk 6-4, 6-4, while Marin Cilic beat 18-year-old Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-4.
Auger-Aliassime made 11 double faults in the defeat.
“I couldn’t figure it out,” Auger-Aliassime said.
SILICON VALLEY CLASSIC
Liang En-shuo of Taiwan and her Chinese partner Zheng Saisai on Thursday advanced to the semi-finals of the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, California, after defeating Heather Watson and Ellen Perez 7-6 (8/6), 0-6, 10-8.
It took a hard-fought 1 hour, 34 minutes for Liang and Zheng to dispatch the British-Australian duo.
In the singles, former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka paid the price for her erratic serve as fifth seed Donna Vekic prevailed 6-4, 6-3 in the second round.
Azarenka, who is coming off a third-round loss at Wimbledon, committed seven double faults and had her service broken five times in the contest.
She showed life in the second set as she seized a 2-0 lead, but 23-year-old Croatian Vekic had her way in the end to set up a quarter-final with American Kristie Ahn.
Ahn reached the quarter-finals by converting seven break points to upset third seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-3, 6-3.
Fourth seed American Amanda Anisimova, a 17-year-old, beat compatriot Madison Brengle 6-2, 6-2 to reach a matchup with Zheng, who routed American Danielle Collins 6-2, 6-0.
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