Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time July 7 with a stunning 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory over reigning French Open champion and world No. 1 Simona Halep of Romania.
In a thrilling match played in blistering temperatures, Hsieh fell 5-2 behind in the final set before reeling off five straight games. The world No. 48 showed exceptional resilience throughout the hard-fought encounter, defending a match point at 5-3 and battling back from 15-40 in the final game to claim a famous win.
Hsieh said that her first victory over a reigning world No. 1 felt like a dream. The 32-year-old Taiwan star attributed the result to remaining calm and concentrating on match strategy, adding that her mentality is always to take it one step at a time and enjoy the journey.
“All I want to do is just go on the court and hit the shot and run for every point,” Hsieh said. “At 2-5 down in the final set, there was a lot of support from the crowd, and they pushed me to fight.”
Taiwan’s leading female player is best known as a doubles star. She was previously the world’s top-ranked women’s doubles player, winning the doubles titles at Wimbledon in 2013 and the French Open in 2014.
Giant-killing in the singles ranks has become a habit for Hsieh in recent years. She defeated then world No. 8 Johanna Konta in the first round of the French Open last season, and former Wimbledon and French Open champion Garbine Muguruza in the second round of the Australian Open in January.
Following her victory over Halep, Hsieh is scheduled to face Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia July 9 for a place in the quarterfinals. She is also making headway in the Wimbledon women’s doubles competition with Czech partner Lucie Hradecka.
On July 6, the pair beat Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, and are scheduled to face Czech duo Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova in the round of 16. (KWS-E)
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