TENNIS/Hsieh Su-wei reaches Australian Open women's doubles final

Taipei, Jan. 24 (CNA) Reigning Australian Open women's doubles champion Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) has earned the chance to defend her title in Melbourne on Sunday after a hard-fought three-set semifinal win on Friday.

Hsieh and Jeļena Ostapenko of Latvia, seeded third in Australia, edged past No. 2 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3 in a two-hour, 23-minute battle to give Hsieh a chance at winning her 10th Grand Slam doubles title.

The duo will face No. 1 seeds Taylor Townsend of the United States and Kateřina Siniaková of the Czech Republic in Sunday's final showdown.

Both Hsieh and Ostapenko made the 2024 Australian Open women's doubles final, but faced off against each other. The Taiwanese veteran won the title teamed with Belgian Elise Mertens, while Ostapenko was on the losing end with Ukrainian Lyudmyla Kichenok.

Though only together since the beginning of 2025, the Taiwan-Latvia duo is already showing how complementary their games are, matching Ostapenko's steady and powerful baseline play with Hsieh's savvy and skill at the net.

That savvy and skill has already propelled the 39-year-old Hsieh to seven Grand Slam women's doubles titles, including two at the French Open and four at Wimbledon, and two mixed doubles titles, at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2024, during her illustrious professional career that began in 2001.

Hsieh was back at Melbourne this year with her same partner as last year in the mixed doubles, Jan Zieliński of Poland, but the pair were eliminated in the second round of mixed doubles play on Monday.

Hsieh has yet to win a US Open title, with her best results being semifinal losses in women's doubles in 2012 and 2023 and in mixed doubles in 2009.