Reigning Australian Open women's doubles champion Hsieh Su-wei moved closer to defending her title in Melbourne today, after a hard-fought three-set match.
Hsieh and Jeļena Ostapenko of Latvia edged past Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine and Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in a two-hour, 20-minute battle to secure a semi-final spot at the hardcourt tournament.
Photo: Taipei Times
The Taiwan-Latvia No. 3 seeded pairing next face No. 2 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand as Hsieh seeks her 10th Grand Slam title.
Now 39, Hsieh has won seven Grand Slam women's doubles titles, including two at the French Open and four at Wimbledon.
In addition, she captured mixed doubles titles at last year's Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Whereas in women's doubles Hsieh changed partners from Belgium's Elise Mertens to Ostapenko this year, she paired with Jan Zieliński of Poland in mixed doubles for a second consecutive year.
However, the pair were eliminated in the second round yesterday.
Hsieh has yet to win the US Open in any category, with her best result being semi-final losses in women's singles in 2012 and 2023, and mixed doubles in 2009.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Connelly Early on Tuesday struck out 11 in five shutout innings to match a franchise record during his MLB debut against the Oakland Athletics. “Pretty sick performance,” teammate Romy Gonzalez said. “It was fun to watch.” The only other Red Sox starter to rack up 11 strikeouts in his first career game was Don Aase versus the Milwaukee Brewers on July 26, 1977. “It was amazing, just to go out there and have that first opportunity,” Early said after getting the win in a 6-0 victory. “A long day of travel yesterday and just getting to the field, seeing
ELEVEN STRIKEOUTS: Blake Snell allowed two singles and two walks against the Rockies as he ended a personal three-game skid with his first win since Aug. 16 Blake Snell on Wednesday struck out a season-high 11 in six innings, while Mookie Betts hit a grand slam in the eighth as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 9-0 for their fourth straight win. Helped by their third series sweep of the Rockies this MLB season, the Dodgers increased their National League West lead to three games over the San Diego Padres, who lost 2-1 at home to the Cincinnati Reds. Betts went four for five with five RBIs, capped by his seventh career slam on a 3-0 pitch from reliever Anthony Molina to make it 8-0. Andy Pages and
‘DEVASTATED’: Argentina’s win was a reversal of their 28-24 defeat last week, with Australian forward Fraser McReight adding that ‘we did the same thing last week’ Argentina flyhalf Santiago Carreras punished an undisciplined Australia with 23 points off the tee as the Pumas held on grimly for a 28-26 win in Sydney yesterday to breathe new life into their Rugby Championship campaign. A try-fest beckoned in afternoon sunshine at Sydney Football Stadium, but Argentina needed only one through captain Julian Montoya, with Carreras doing the damage with seven penalties and a conversion in front of a sell-out crowd. A week after letting a 14-point lead slip in a 28-24 defeat to Australia in Townsville, Argentina saw most of a 21-point advantage erased in the final quarter as the
China’s state-run People’s Daily newspaper on Monday published an essay about Chinese basketball it said was written by LeBron James, but a representative for the NBA star said on Thursday that the article was based on a series of interviews. The paper, better known as the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, had said James authored the essay, “Basketball is a Bridge that Connects Us,” a tribute to Chinese players and fans of the sport written in the first person. “LeBron James Pens an Article in the People’s Daily,” read a post published on the newspaper’s official WeChat account. On Thursday, a representative