Taiwan's Hsieh into Wimbledon doubles quarter-finals

Taipei, July 10 (CNA) Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her partner Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic advanced to the quarter-finals of the women's doubles at Wimbledon on Tuesday while Taiwan's Chan sisters were not as fortunate.

Hsieh and Strycova continued their strong run at Wimbledon, toppling the 15th-seeded Romanian pair of Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu 6-3, 6-4 to move into the quarter-finals.

The third-seeds have yet to drop a set in the tournament, but they will face their toughest test Wednesday when they play sixth-seeds Elise Mertens of Belgium and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus for a spot in the semifinals.

Hsieh and Strycova, both 33, lost to Mertens and Sabalenka earlier this year at the Miami Open in a super tiebreaker in the round of 16.

The two took the court Tuesday just 90 minutes after Strycova reached the semifinals in the women's singles draw with a straight-sets win over Britain's Johanna Konta, but that did not seem to hamper the duo's performance, at least initially.

The duo broke serve in their Romanian opponents' first two service games, giving them an edge they would not relinquish.

They faced a much sterner test in the second set as Strycova appeared to tire somewhat, but their chemistry on court and clutch play on big points pulled them through.

After scoring a break in the third game, Hsieh and Strycova needed to save a break point in the sixth game, three more break points in the eighth game and another break point in the final game before finally clinching the match.

Their next opponents secured a spot in the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-3 victory against the ninth-seeds from Taiwan, sisters Latisha Chan (詹詠然) and Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴), who had entered the match in good form, having lost only nine games in their first two matches.

But the Chans' struggles on serve led to their downfall. They won only 44 percent of the points in which they got their first serve in, resulting in holds of only half of their service games.