Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday fought back from a set and a double break down to advance to her fourth WTA Tour quarter-final of the season at the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Rabat, Morocco.
Second seed Hsieh fought back to record a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena in 1 hour, 58 minutes, her fifth straight victory over the world No. 110.
World No. 24 Hsieh saved 10 of 15 break points and converted six of seven to advance to a quarter-final against British seventh seed Johanna Konta, who defeated Ana Bogdan of Romania 6-1, 6-7 (6/8), 6-2 in 1 hour, 59 minutes.
“On clay, it can be pretty good, it can be pretty bad. I know I can suddenly get the feeling and I can feel really comfortable on the court,” Hsieh told the WTA Web site.
“I was aggressive and I picked up my game almost at the last moment,” she said of rallying from a set a 3-5 down.
“It was tough, because normally I handle the court pretty well, but today it looked like she was handling the drop shots and the volleys better than me — I was a little bit upset,” she added.
The Taiwanese No. 1’s only appearance in a WTA clay-court semi-final was in Rabat last year and she had the chance repeat that feat against world No. 47 Konta.
However, Hsieh has a 2-4 career record against the Briton and she has lost their previous three meetings — at Wimbledon in 2017, in Rome last year and in Indian Wells, California, in March.
Also advancing to the quarter-finals was Belgian top seed Elise Mertens, who defeated Ivana Jorovic of Serbia 6-4, 6-0. She was due to face Greek sixth seed Maria Sakkari, who beat Bulgaria’s Isabella Shinikova 6-4, 6-4.
Australian fourth seed Ajla Tomljanovic defeated Swiss wild-card Timea Bacsinszky 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 to set up a clash with Rebecca Peterson of Sweden, who beat Polona Hercog of Slovenia 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.
Eighth seed Alison van Uytvanck crushed Varvara Lepchenko of the US 6-4, 6-0 to set up a quarter-final against fellow Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure, who outlasted Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.
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