SEEDS SENT PACKING: Russia’s Margarita Gasparyan also pulled off an upset in the opening contest of the day in Birmingham, beating fourth seed Elina Svitolina
Taipei Times
Date: Jun 19, 2019
By: Dave Carroll / Staff reporter, with AFP, LONDON
Unseeded Hsieh Su-wei on Monday pulled off another upset at the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham as
the Taiwanese world No. 28 stunned world No. 10 Aryna Sabalenka in the first round of the singles.Hsieh outlasted the Belarussian fifth seed 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7/1) on the grass courts at Edgbaston Priory Club in 1 hour, 56 minutes in England’s second city.
The Taiwanese saved one of four break points and converted three of six, winning 71 percent of points on her first serve to claim her fourth victory over a top-10 player this season and the seventh of her career.
“It was not easy because it’s my first match on the grass court. I knew it was going to be really tough, so I just got ready for anything to happen on the court,” Hsieh told the WTA Web site. “It’s not easy because you know she can make any winner from anywhere; serve, return, baseline. She was slicing pretty good. I was surprised. I [said]: ‘OK, I cannot do stable and try to play my stuff,’ so I was doing very good to keep concentrated on my game.” [FULL STORY]