Taiwanese tennis star Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the second round of the mixed doubles at the French Open, after she and German partner Mark Wallner defeated Slovenian Andreja Klepac and Briton Lloyd Glasspool in straight sets, despite temperatures exceeding 32°C in Paris, while Taiwan’s top men’s doubles player Ray Ho also reached the second round.
Hsieh, who made it to the semi-finals in the mixed doubles at Roland Garros in 2024, and Wallner defeated Klepac and Glasspool 6-3, 7-5 in just more than an hour, converting three of five break points, while holding their opponents to just one conversion from seven opportunities.
In 2024, Hsieh and Polish partner Jan Zielinski won the Australian Open and Wimbledon mixed doubles titles, but failed to overcome American Desirae Krawczyk and Briton Neal Skupski at the French Open.
Photo: AFP
Hsieh, who is ranked 11th in women’s doubles and the only woman in the top 20 aged 40 or older, and Chinese partner Wang Xinyu on Tuesday defeated Australia’s Daria Kasatkina and Colombia’s Camila Osorio 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the second round.
Hsieh and Wang are to face 13th seeds Guo Hanyu of China and Kristina Mladenovic of France.
Also on Tuesday, 16th seeds Wu Fang-hsien of Taiwan and Japan’s Eri Hozumi dominated Jaqueline Cristian of Romania and Russian-born Austrian Anastasia Potapova 6-3, 6-0.
Photo: CNA
The Taiwanese-Japanese duo made it to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in January. Their second-round opponents in Paris have not yet been decided.
In other women’s doubles on Wednesday, Taiwan’s Liang En-shuo, 25, and veteran Japanese doubles specialist Shuko Aoyama, 38, converted six of 11 break points in their 6-2, 6-3 romp over Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
Liang and Aoyama are to play the fifth seeds, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand, in the second round.
Taiwanese world No. 40 Chan Hao-ching and Russian partner Ekaterina Alexandrova lost to the 15th seeds, Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway and Quinn Gleason of the US, 6-2, 6-4.
Meanwhile, Ho, ranked 69th in ATP doubles, and German partner Hendrik Jebens on Wednesday survived Peru’s Ignacio Buse and Mac Kiger of the US 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (10/7) to advance to the second round, where they are to face the 10th seeds, Hugo Nys of Monaco and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France.
Twenty-six-year-old Ho — who has won 11 titles on the ATP Challenger Tour, most recently in Suzhou, China, in October last year — has continued to improve over the past few years, advancing to the second round of the Australian Open in January and the US Open last year.
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