Wimbledon 2018: Simona Halep loses to Hsieh Su-wei in third round
- Published
- comments
Wimbledon 2018: Hsieh Su-wei beats the top seed Simona Halep 3-6 6-4 7-5 - best shots
Wimbledon 2018 on the BBC |
|---|
Venue: All England Club, Wimbledon Dates: 2-15 July |
Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button, Connected TVs and the BBC Sport website and app; Live Radio 5 live and 5 live sports extra commentary; Text commentary online. |
Top seed Simona Halep described her attitude as "unprofessional" as she was knocked out of Wimbledon in the third round after an epic three-set battle with Hsieh Su-wei.
The Taiwanese world number 48's serve was broken seven times and she saved a match point before winning 3-6 6-4 7-5.
It means Czech seventh seed Karolina Pliskova is the only top 10 player remaining in the women's singles draw.
It is the first time Hsieh, 32, has reached the last 16 of the singles.
The 2013 doubles champion will now play Dominika Cibulkova after the Slovak beat 15th seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-2 6-2.
How did Hsieh topple Halep?
Romanian Halep was brutal in her assessment of her performance in a match of ups and downs for both players, who were dealing with intense heat on Court One.
"I was leading the match, I was up, and I couldn't finish it. I'm not hard. I'm just realistic and honest with myself. I accept that it was an unprofessional attitude from me today."
It took five games to see the first hold of serve - which went to the world number one - and there were 13 breaks overall.
After losing the first set, Hsieh, who last played in the third round of Wimbledon in 2012, put Halep under pressure in the second and broke twice before serving to love to take it 6-4.
With fatigue setting in, Hsieh found herself 5-2 down in the decider and it looked like Halep's strength was going to see her through to the last 16 for the fourth time.
But the Taiwanese clawed her way back into it with a single break, and after fending off match point, she broke again and held her nerve to see out the match - much to the delight of the crowd.
Halep, who won the French Open last month for her first Grand Slam title, pointed to tiredness as one of the reasons for the defeat.
"I just was too negative to myself, talking too much. I think because I was tired, because I'm tired, I couldn't stay focused for every ball," she said after the match that lasted two hours 20 minutes.
Hsieh, meanwhile, kept her focus to record her first victory over a world number one.
"It is amazing," Hsieh said.
"She played amazing, I had to run and fight for every point. I tried to concentrate on my game and calm down a bit, that helped a lot.
"There was a lot of support from outside that pushed me and I kept fighting."
Kerber and Ostapenko cruise into round four
Eleventh seed Angelique Kerber, now the second-highest ranked player in the women's draw, looked unstoppable on Centre Court as she breezed past Japanese 18th seed Naomi Osaka 6-2 6-4.
German Kerber, the losing finalist in 2016, will now play Swiss 21-year-old Belinda Bencic, who won 6-1 7-6 (7-3) against 27th seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.
Australian Ashleigh Barty, seeded 17th, went out against Russian Daria Kasatkina, who won 7-5 6-3.
Kasatkina will face Alison van Uytvanck in the last 16 after the Belgian beat Estonia's Anett Kontaveit 6-2 6-3.
Former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko made short work of her third-round match, winning 6-0 6-4 against Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia.
Ostapenko will meet Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the last 16 after the Belarusian beat Australian Daria Gavrilova 6-3 6-1.