Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open.
Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2.
Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16.
Photo: Reuters
Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian Wells victory, which followed her and Mertens winning the title at the Australian Open, where she also won the mixed doubles title with Poland’s Jan Zielinski.
Meanwhile, Chan Hao-ching of Taiwan and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia yesterday crashed out of the round of 16, losing 7-6 (7/6), 6-1 to eighth seeds Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain.
In men’s singles on Saturday, Rafael Nadal defeated Alex de Minaur from Barcelona 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 to extend his stay in Madrid on his final appearance at his home tournament, but said he still “needs time” to return to his competitive peak.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion advanced to a third-round meeting with Argentina’s Pedro Cachin.
In front of a capacity crowd that included the King of Spain, Felipe VI, French soccer icon Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior, Nadal dug deep to dismiss the world No. 11, despite admitting ahead of the tournament he was still struggling with numerous physical issues.
It was an impressive performance from the 37-year-old, but he immediately dismissed the idea it was anywhere near his vintage form.
“No, not yet. It needs time,” Nadal said on court. “To play over two hours means a lot to me and the atmosphere here is just a joke. Just step by step and let’s see how I recover.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas suffered a surprise second-round exit at the hands of world No. 118 Thiago Monteiro, while top seed Jannik Sinner extended his unbeaten record against fellow Italians to 13-0 by defeating his Davis Cup teammate and good friend Lorenzo Sonego 6-0, 6-3 in just 69 minutes.
Last year’s women’s finalist Iga Swiatek eased past Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-1 to book a fourth-round meeting with home favorite Sara Sorribes Tormo, while Ons Jabeur, the 2022 champion, wiped a 0-3 deficit in the first set, and 0-2 and 2-4 deficits in the decider to overcome Canada’s Leylah Fernandez 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 and move into the last 16.
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