TENNIS/Taiwan's Hsieh, partner reach mixed doubles finals at Wimbledon

Taipei, July 13 (CNA) Taiwanese tennis ace Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Polish partner Jan Zielinski advanced to the mixed doubles final at Wimbledon on Friday, just one step away from clinching their first Wimbledon mixed doubles title.

Hsieh and Zielinski, who won the Australian Open mixed doubles title earlier this year and who had reached the semifinals of the French Open, battled past the second-seeded duo, New Zealand's Michael Venus and Erin Routliffe, in straight sets 7-6 [7-0], 6-3.

In the first set, the Taiwanese-Polish duo saved a set point, pushing the set into a tiebreaker.

They later clinched the set by winning the tiebreaker with seven straight points.

The duo then broke their opponents' serve to lead 5-3 in the second set, before closing out the match with a 6-3 win.

By winning the match, Hsieh achieved her best-ever result in mixed doubles at Wimbledon.

Hsieh and Zielinski will next face Mexico's Santiago Gonzalez and Giuliana Olmos in the finals.

If the duo wins the championship, it will be their second Grand Slam title, following their Australian Open mixed doubles victory in January.

Meanwhile, Hsieh and Belgian partner Elise Mertens, the defending champions, lost to Czech Katerina Siniakova and American Taylor Townsend in the women's doubles semifinals 6-3, 4-6, 4-6.

The defeat marked Hsieh's first loss in the women's doubles at Wimbledon since 2018.