Dubai: Chinese Taipei’s Su-Wei Hsieh kept on course for a rare double entering the singles and doubles semi-finals at the 19th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge being played at the Habtoor Grand Resort Autograph Collection.
The 30-year-old who is the fifth seed, and the only surviving seed, first won 6-1, 6-2 in just 47 minutes against Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic, and an hour later, she teamed up with Russia’s Valeria Savinykh to secure a 7-5, 6-1 win against the Dutch duo of Cindy Burger and Quirine Lemoine.
In the singles semi-finals, the former two-time doubles Grand Slam champion will take on Germany’s Mona Barthel — a 6-3, 6-4 winner against Ivana Jorovic of Serbia — later in the evening.
By winning the 2013 Wimbledon and 2014 French Open doubles in the company of her Chinese partner Peng Shuai, Hsieh became the first player from Taiwan to win a Grand Slam title of any kind. However, since the past six months she has been struggling with several injuries to her ankles.
“For me it is important to take things one step at a time. Winning three games on the trot is quite an achievement in itself after the series of injuries I’ve been through earlier this year. So I am really pleased to be in the semi-finals of both singles and doubles,” Hsieh told Gulf News.
“I really do not want to look too far ahead, but rather go out there and enjoy my tennis. Honestly, just being out there and doing what I am doing is so much of a bonus. I want this to continue and enjoy this experience of playing against some of the best players on the circuit,” she added.
Hsieh looked excited at meeting a former top player like Barthel in the last four stages of the competition. “Mona [Barthel] is a strong player and it will be interesting to see how much further I can go here,” Hsieh said.
“I’ve got my goal set on breaking into the top-100 before the year end and I hope I will be able to achieve this by going as far as possible here,” she smiled.
In the lower part of the draw, qualifier Lesley Kerkhove from the Netherlands continued her winning run with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Sabina Sharipova of Uzbekistan, while Natalia Vikhlyantseva packed off wild card Galina Voskoboeva of Slovakia 6-3, 6-1 in a little over one hour.
RESULTS
Quarter-final results at the 19th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge on Thursday: Su-Wei Hsieh def. Aleksandra Krunic 6-1, 6-2; Mona Barthel def. Ivana Jorovic 6-3, 6-4; Lesley Kerkhove def. Sabina Sharipova 6-2, 6-3; Natalia Vikhlyantseva def. Galina Voskoboeva 6-3, 6-1.
Doubles: Mandy Minella/Nina Stojanovic def. Shuko Aoyama/Demi Schuurs 6-1, 6-4; Su-Wei Hsieh/Valeria Savinykh def. Cindy Burger/Quirine Lemoine 7-5, 6-1; Natela Dzalamidze/Veronika Kudermetova def. Sabina Sharipova/Anstasiya Vasylyeva 6-0, 6-3.
