Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa.
World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals.
Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals.
Photo: AFP
Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break points and took advantage of their opponents sending down seven double faults to set up a last-four clash with second seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand, who defeated Miyu Kato of Japan and Renata Zarazua of Mexico 6-3, 6-2 in their quarter-final.
In the women’s singles, an “emotional” Badosa stunned women’s world No. 3 Gauff 7-5, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena and is next to face defending champion Aryna Sabalenka or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
It is the 27-year-old Spaniard Badosa’s first Grand Slam semi-final.
“I’m a bit emotional,” Badosa said. “I’m a very emotional person. I wanted to play my best game. I think I did it. I’m super proud of the level I gave today.”
It caps a remarkable comeback for the 11th seed, who was ranked outside the top 100 a year ago after a stress fracture in her back.
“I mean, a year ago, I was here with my back that I didn’t know if I had to retire from this sport, and now I’m here playing against the best in the world,” she said.
Third seed Gauff had been unbeaten in nine matches this season, but the American more than met her match in the Spaniard.
The 20-year-old former US Open champion was put under pressure immediately in the first set by the aggressive Badosa, which set the tone.
Gauff described herself as “disappointed, but not completely crushed.”
In hot and windy conditions in the men’s singles, Germany’s Zverev defeated Paul 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/0), 2-6, 6-1 to step up his quest to win a Grand Slam for the first time.
The 27-year-old was distracted at one point by a feather which floated across court on Rod Laver Arena as he threatened to lose his cool.
The umpire called for a replay due to the feather drifting in front of the German as he played a shot on break point.
“C’mon, that is unbelievable on break point,” he shouted, before taking out his fury on Paul by breaking to love.
Zverev was decisive in the tiebreaks and, after suffering a wobble in the third set, sealed the deal by racing through the fourth.
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