Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the round of 16 at the Chicago Women’s Open after defeating former world No. 1 Venus Williams in straight sets.
Facing the seven-time Grand Slam winner for the first time in her long career, 35-year-old Hsieh took command of the match after saving a break point in the fifth game of the opening set. She won 6-2, 6-3 in 67 minutes.
Williams, the oldest player in the draw at 41, tried to get back in the match when she broke Hsieh to pull within 3-2 in the second set, but Hsieh returned the favor in the next game to go up 4-2, and then held serve twice to clinch the victory.
Photo: AFP
Hsieh won 71 percent of her first-serve points and had just one double fault, while Williams double faulted five times. Williams, who has 49 career WTA titles, had her serve broken four times and won just 35 percent of her second-serve points.
Williams is now just 3-9 on the season and has seen her ranking drop to No. 147 in the world.
It was one of the biggest wins of 81st-ranked Hsieh’s career as she improved to 11-12 on the season.
Today, Hsieh faces Tereza Martincova of the Czech Republic, who has a career-high singles ranking of 67.
In the women’s doubles, Hsieh’s sister Hsieh Yu-chieh and her Thai partner Peangtarn Plipuech thrashed Indonesia’s Beatrice Gumulya and the UK’s Emily Webley-Smith 6-0, 6-1 in their women’s doubles round-of-16 match to advance to the quarter-finals.
Additional reporting by AFP
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