Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) yesterday said that believing she was “still young” helped her sweep into a first Grand Slam quarter-final after 16 years of trying, becoming the first female player from Taiwan to reach a women’s singles quarter-final in a Grand Slam event, as well as the oldest player to make a last-eight debut in the Open era.
The 35-year-old overwhelmed Czech Marketa Vondrousova, a player 14 years her junior, in the Australian Open fourth round to set up an all-Asia clash with Japan’s Naomi Osaka.
Hsieh, the doubles world No. 1, but ranked No. 71 in singles, got an early break in the opening set and never looked troubled in outwitting the 19th seed 6-4, 6-2, a player she also toppled in a warm-up event in Abu Dhabi last month.
Photo: AFP
The Taiwanese made her Grand Slam debut in 2005, but had never gone beyond the fourth round before in 37 previous attempts.
“I try to pretend I’m only 18 years old. My mental [age] is very young,” Hsieh said on her secret for success.
“I also try to look little bit young this time, it helps a lot,” she said with a smile. “For me, the most important thing is to stay happy, to enjoy it, not get injury.”
Hsieh, by far the least decorated player left in her side of the draw, had already shown her mettle on Wednesday last week by beating 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu.
One of the most unorthodox players in the women’s game, Hsieh won 80 percent of her first-service points against Vondrousova, who was hampered by 31 unforced errors.
Asked how she had been able to maintain her level over so many years, Hsieh recounted a story about how her boyfriend’s parents almost fell asleep when they first came to watch her at the French Open.
“Before Roland Garros, I was never able to beat the top-10 player,” Hsieh said. “I was dating my boyfriend, it was first year or second year, but his parents was first time coming to watch my match.”
“So I see the parents, I think they look like they’re going to fall asleep. I think I play really bad,” she said. “I tell myself: ‘OK, now I don’t care what happen, I will try to get every ball, try to make it look little bit better.’ At least I want to see them a little bit awake. That’s the way I get back, win the set and win the match. After that, I start winning [against] some top-10 players.”
Hsieh did not say when this happened, but before meeting Osaka she has a 8-25 record against top-10 players, with four of the wins coming at Grand Slams, including victory over Britain’s Johanna Konta, then ranked No. 8, at the 2017 French Open.
Additional reporting by staff writer
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his
‘SOVEREIGN AI’: As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for having computing power of 103 petaflops. The governments wants to achieve 1,200 by 2029 The government would intensify efforts to bolster its “Sovereign Artificial Intelligence [AI]” program by setting a goal of elevating the nation’s collective computing power in the public and private sectors to 1,200 peta floating points per second (petaflops) by 2029, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The goal was set to fulfill President William Lai’s (賴清德) vision of turning Taiwan into an “AI island.” Sovereign AI refers to a nation’s capabilities to produce AI using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business networks. One petaflop allows 1 trillion calculations per second. As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for
RSS