‘VERY WEIRD’: Top seed Simona Halep claimed to be flabbergasted after edging past Ons Jabeur, saying it was ‘up and down’ because the Tunisian ‘doesn’t give rhythm’

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 21, 2020
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter, with AFP, DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday cruised into the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Dubai Duty

Free Tennis Championships, while the Chan sisters’ poor start to the season continued as the Taiwanese second seeds crashed out.

Reigning champions Hsieh and Barbora Strycova took just 58 minutes to see off the challenge of unseeded Chinese duo Han Xinyun and Peng Shuai 6-2, 6-2 on the hard courts in the United Arab Emirates.

The top seeds converted six of nine break points and limited their opponents to a 40 percent success rate on their first serve as they advanced to a quarter-final against American pairing Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who recovered from a disastrous start to oust sixth seeds Kveta Peschke and Demi Schuurs 0-6, 6-0, 10-1 in 54 minutes.

Taiwanese duo Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan fell to a 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 defeat to another American pairing, Desirae Krawczyk and Alison Riske, in 1 hour, 19 minutes.    [FULL  STORY]