Su-Wei Hsieh stuns Sandra Zahlavova in the qualies at Brussels Ladies Open
Taipei Su-Wei Hsieh upset third seeded Czech Sandra Zahlavova in straight sets on Sunday. She registered a 6-3, 7-5 victory over her age fellow, 25-year-old Czech to advance into the final round of the qualifiers at 2011 Open de
Bruxelles, a red clay court tournament held in Brussels, Belgium.
A former top 100 player, Hsieh showed exceptional skills at her first WTA event this season as she took one hour and forty-five minutes to triumph over world number 103 Zahlavova in straight sets.
After recently winning the title at Mildura ITF, the world number 343 Hsieh re-kindled the spark at this WTA Premier event and slaughtered Fin Emma Laine with a bagel in the first round of qualifiers.
After defeating the Czech four years ago at Redding in straight sets, Hsieh entered Royal Primerose Tennis Club full of confidence and outplayed the seeded Czech. Although she produced a lower first serve share of 42 percent as
compared to Zahlavova’s 52 percent in the opening set, she registered a convincing 60 percent win on it. The Taipei failed to save the only breakpoint faced but converted three out of five breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to clinch the set with a
6-3 win.
The next set saw both players playing their best tennis as they exchanged four breaks early on. Regardless of clobbering a lower first serve share of 61 percent as compared to the Czech’s 68 percent, Hsieh registered an impressive
64 percent win on it. She then edged over Zahlavova by breaking her serve in the last game to seal the set 7-5.
Zahlavova on the other hand had a drastic season so far. She only won two out of her last ten games and after exiting from her opening round match, the Czech extended her losing streak to four matches. In this match, Zahlavova
broke Taipei’s serve five times and saved seven breakpoints faced but it wasn’t enough to overpower the raged-up Hsieh.
Next challenge for the Taipei is the Belgian wild card entrant, Alison van Uytvanck. The world number 427, Uytvanck was one set down when she raised her level of game to clinch the match against the eighth seeded German with a
2-6, 6-4, 6-3 score. She saved six out of eleven breakpoints faced and converted five out of nine breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to seal the deal in two hours and seven minutes.
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