TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese tennis star Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and Elise Mertens of Belgium on Tuesday (July 6) defeated Asia Muhammad and Jessica Pegula of the U.S. to advance to the quarter-finals in the women’s doubles at Wimbledon.
Hsieh has won the Wimbledon women's doubles championship twice, the first time with China’s Peng Shuai (彭帥) in 2013, and the second with Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic in 2019. As last year’s Wimbledon was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hsieh is seeking to defend her title with the new partner.
The third-seeded Hsieh and Mertens broke serve first to take a 2-0 lead in the first set, but the American duo broke back in the 10th to tie the game at 5-5. However, Hsieh and Mertens stabilized and raced to a 7-5 lead in the first set.
The Taiwan-Belgium duo broke the Americans’ serves three times in the second set to win the set 6-3 and advance to the quarter-finals.
Hsieh and Mertens were eliminated in the third round at this year’s French Open. The third-round win at Wimbledon marks their best Grand Slam performance together so far.
They will face Aleksandra Krunic and Nina Stojanovic of Serbia to vie for the semifinals ticket.
On Monday, Taiwanese sisters Latisha Chan (詹詠然) and Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) defeated Britain’s Heather Watson and Harriet Dart, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, to advance to the quarter-finals.
