Mon, Jan 20, 2025 page6

• Hsieh eases into Melbourne quarters

  HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens

  • Staff writer, with AFP, MELBOURNE
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  Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals.

  Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena.

  Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5 for the title — the Taiwanese-Lativian duo have been on a confident run at Melbourne Park. They are tomorrow to face Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, who yesterday survived 12th seeds Guo Hanyu of China and Russia’s Alexandra Panova 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (10/6) in a marathon match lasting 3 hours, 14 minutes.

  

  Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei, right, returns to Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia as partner Elise Mertens of Belgium looks on during their women’s doubles final at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Jan. 28 last year.

  Photo: EPA-EFE

  Thirty-nine-year-old Hsieh, who last year retired from singles, is also defending her mixed doubles title with partner Jan Zielinski of Poland, with whom she won at Wimbledon last year. The sixth seeds are today to play Irina Khromacheva of Russia and Jackson Withrow of the US in the second round.

  On Saturday, fifth seeds Chan and Kichenok dominated Harriet Dart of the UK and France’s Diane Parry 6-0, 6-3 in a swift 58 minutes, hitting 12 winners and converting seven of 10 break points. They are today to play ninth seeds Kristina Mladenovic of France and Zhang Shuai of China in the third round.

  This year has been Chan’s best performance in Melbourne since making it to the quarter-finals with China’s Yang Zhaoxuan in 2023.

  

  Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Ukrainian partner Lyudmyla Kichenok pose in an undated photograph.

  Photo: CNA

  In other Taiwanese action at the Australian Open, 16-year-old Chen Kuan-shou yesterday beat sixth seed Oliver Bonding of the UK 7-6 (10/8), 6-3, 4-1 in the first round of the boys’ singles on Court 8. Bonding, 17, retired after 2 hours, 6 minutes.

  Chen and South Korean partner Kim Moo-been are today to play Australian wild-cards Jerome Estephan and Daniel Jovanovski in the first round of the boys’ doubles.

  In women’s singles, defending champion Sabalenka blew away Russian 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva 6-1, 6-2 in a ruthless display on the hottest day of the tournament so far, as temperatures hit 34°C, while Coco Gauff of the US dropped a set for the first time this season, but fought back to beat Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.

  

  Coco Gauff of the US returns to Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic during their fourth-round women’s singles match at the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday.

  Photo: Reuters

  Gauff mourned the loss of TikTok’s app back home, writing on a TV camera lens “RIP TikTok USA” and drawing a broken heart right after winning her match, about an hour after the service could no longer be found on prominent app stores in the US.

  In men’s singles, four-time major champion 21-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz vowed to get a kangaroo tattoo if he wins the Australian Open for the first time, after advancing after Britain’s 15th seed Jack Draper retired.

  “It’s not the way I wanted to win, but obviously I’m happy to play another quarter-final here in Australia,” Alcaraz said.

  

  A camera operator films a message Coco Gauff of the US wrote on the camera after winning her fourth-round women’s singles match against Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic at the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday.

  Photo: Reuters

  Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev has been fined a large chunk of his prize money for unsportsmanlike conduct after a racket-smashing meltdown in the first round, throwing his equipment toward the sideline after losing his second-round match on Thursday and then failing to attend a post-match news conference.

  The two incidents prompted the Grand Slam’s organizers to fine Medvedev a total of US$76,000. Players reaching the second round collect about US$123,000. The 2021 US Open champion has earned more than US$45 million in prize money during his career.

  On Saturday, 31-year-old Danielle Collins of the US said she was proud of herself and did not care what people thought after being booed in and out of the arena in losing 6-4, 6-4 to fellow American Madison Keys.

  Collins on Thursday became the pantomime villain of Melbourne Park when she sarcastically thanked hecklers for “paying my bills” after she defeated home hope Destanee Aiava in the second round. She also blew kisses to the fiercely partisan crowd, cupped her ear and even pointed to her backside.

  “Something I’m really proud of myself is I just have gotten to the point where I really don’t care anymore about what people who aren’t important to me think,” the beaten 2022 finalist said.

  Additional reporting by AP and Reuters
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