Hsieh, Zhang ousted from BNP Paribas Open women's doubles

Taipei, March 14 (CNA) Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Chinese partner Zhang Shuai (張帥) saw their hopes for a women's doubles title at the BNP Paribas Open dashed after losing in straight sets in the tournament's semifinals on Thursday.

The fifth-seeded Taiwanese-Chinese duo lost 7-5, 6-3 to the unseeded duo of Tereza Mihalikova from Slovakia and Olivia Nicholls of Great Britain in a match that lasted 90 minutes at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Hsieh and Zhang were unable to take advantage of key opportunities, cashing in on only one of seven break points, while their opponents only had four break points but won three of them.

The fifth seeds struggled early but rallied to even the first set at 5-5 before stumbling. They made less of an impact in the second set as the Slovakian-British duo continued to show more consistency in all facets of the game.

Hsieh won the women's doubles title at Indian Wells with former partner Elise Mertens of Belgium last year.

The BNP Paribas Open is part of the ATP Masters 1000 events on the ATP Tour and also part of the WTA 1000 events on the WTA Tour.