Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium on Friday won their first women’s doubles match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, after Hsieh earlier crashed out in the second round of the women’s singles.
In little more than 49 minutes of play, Hsieh and Mertens downed Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska and Amanda Anisimova of the US 6-1, 6-1.
The duo advanced to the round-of-16 to face Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US and Iga Swiatek of Poland, who in June eliminated Hsieh and Mertens at the French Open.
Photo: EPA-EFE
On Thursday, the Polish and American pairing beat Alexandra Panova of Russia and Julia Lohoff of Germany 6-1, 6-3.
In the women’s singles on Friday, Hsieh lost to world No. 29 Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-0 in just more than an hour of play.
Emma Raducanu also crashed out of the tournament, losing 6-2, 6-4 to Aliaksandra Sasnovich in her first match since her stunning US Open triumph last month.
On Sept. 11, the British 18-year-old shocked the tennis world at Flushing Meadows by becoming the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title.
On Friday, she looked rusty in her first match since that win.
Raducanu won the first game of the opening set, but it was all Sasnovich after that in the first career meeting between the two.
“There is going to be disappointment after any loss,” Raducanu said. “Going into the match, I didn’t put any pressure on myself because in my mind I am so inexperienced. I am 18 years old. I need to cut myself some slack.”
“You could tell she was more experienced than me, and she went out there and executed her game plan better than I did,” she added.
The unseeded Sasnovich won three straight points to reach 40-0 in the final game, then clinched the match when Raducanu hit a backhand long.
The Belarusian blasted one ace and won 67 percent of her first-serve points, taking advantage of Raducanu’s soft second serve and inability to hit winners on easy shots.
“I really enjoy playing here,” Sasnovich said. “Emma just won the US Open and I lost there in the first round. So it was a little bit different.”
In the men’s draw, Andy Murray breezed past France’s Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 6-2.
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