Miami Open: Su-wei Hsieh holds off Caroline Wozniacki in tough 3-setter

Caroline Wozniacki gave it her all but came out on the wrong side of the result at the Miami Open Monday evening. The world number 13 didn’t have enough in the tank to handle Su-Wei Hsieh, who overcame a bad second set tiebreak to win 6-3, 6-7(0), 6-2 on Grandstand Court at the Hard Rock Stadium.

This was Hsieh's first win over the Dane ending a four-match slide and advanced to her first WTA Premier Mandatory quarterfinal.

The Dane had won all four of the previous meetings between the two, and in three of those matches she hadn't allowed Hsieh more than two games in a set. The 13th seed was looking to maintain her dominance against the Taiwanese, who had taken down Naomi Osaka in a two-hour battle in the previous round.

After Wozniacki held to open the match, Hsieh responded with a hold to love before earning a break in the third. But just when she was about to notch a second serve to love, errors from her forehand and two double faults brought the game to deuce. She erred again to lose control and give Wozniacki the break back.

A hold for the Dane got her back out front, in the hope that she could dictate the rest of the set. But she couldn’t do that as Hsieh showed terrific ball placement to hold serve. She then climbed back from 40-0 down with solid returns that beat back the Dane and forced deuce.

Hsieh wore down Wozniacki through before a clear winner helped her win the AD point and the break. With two service games lost, the 13th seed called down her father and coach and had a lively two-way conversation on how to tighten up and commit less errors.

Hsieh then held to force Wozniacki to serve to stay in the set at 3-5. The Dane had little resistance to offer though and got broken again, conceding the set to the Taiwanese star in 40 minutes.

Hsieh won 67 percent of points from the first serve and enough from the second to be ahead in the match. Her 14 winners and capability of winning break points were keys to winning the first set against the former World No. 1.

Wozniacki fired off two straight games to begin the second set as she forced the issue against the 33-year-old. A double break was not in the books though as Hsieh stopped the Dane from forcing deuce in her next service game.

Wozniacki held her ground in the fourth to maintain serve and regain a two-game buffer. Another break was in the offing for Wozniacki to up her margin, but the 27th seed found a way to hold in the fifth.

A break for Hsieh in the sixth game then got her back on level terms. She consolidated the break with a hold in the seventh game, edging closer to the finish line.

Wozniacki scored an important service hold in the eighth that kept things even on the score, but struggled to find strong enough answers. She allowed Hsieh another service hold that put her in a great spot to clinch an upset.

A crosscourt net point helped Hsieh to force deuce in the 10th game. But the 13th seed used her experience to win the AD point and extend the set.

Hsieh served in the 11th game where she remained patient and focused to get a jump on her opponent. Wozniacki struck back with the same level of aggression to force deuce. Just when the tension got high for the AD point, the 13th seed got a bad beat with the ball hitting the net and unable to get over.

That gave the Taiwanese star a second chance at the match and she took a conference with her coach Frederic Aniere to keep her focused on the prize that was in front of her. She fell behind with Wozniacki scoring big points from the serve to reach 40-0, but saw a lob end the shutout. Hsieh couldn’t pull things to deuce which left a tiebreak to play that would determine where the match went.

Hsieh fell apart with numerous errors that gave the Dane increased confidence. She scored the 7-0 shutout over Hsieh that forced a third set after 57 minutes.

Hsieh knew that her debacle at the end of the second set had to be put aside. She did just that in the shape of a break in the first game before going on a strong run. She took the next three games, leaving no room for Wozniacki to gain the upper hand.

The Dane found a way to dig in on serve in the fifth where she held to get on the scoreboard. Although she avoided a shutout, Hsieh kept her serve together just enough to take a 5-1 lead, putting Wozniacki back under pressure.

A hold in the seventh was tough for the Dane to secure, but errors from Hsieh assisted in closing the game out on deuce to continue her climb back. In her first chance to serve for the match, Hsieh ended the proceedings by belting a forehand crosscourt winner to complete the upset in 2 hours and 13 minutes.

Hsieh Su-wei books her spot in the @MiamiOpen quarterfinals!Defeats Wozniacki 6-3, 6-7(0), 6-2! pic.twitter.com/LBLRDcxNPT

— WTA (@WTA) March 25, 2019

With another top 15 win in the tournament, Hsieh will try to do even more when she takes on Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit in a fight for the semis.