Su-Wei Hsieh got her Wimbledon 2019 campaign off to a bright start as she dominated over a poro show from Jelena Ostapenko to clinch a 6-2, 6-2 win in the first round on court 18 at the All England Tennis Club on Monday.
The two faced off three years ago with Hsieh holding a victory in a major over the Latvian. Ostapenko displayed a severe problem in finding consistency recently but caught some luck on the grass courts winning two matches at both Birmingham and Eastbourne.
While it didn’t build into any serious point gains, getting off to a start that she’s had at the AEC would have turned out to be essential for the 22-year-old to advance.
Hsieh, however, had other plans for the Latvian had other plans and broke Ostapenko's serve after putting together a good service game. She consolidated the two break point win with another hold in the third giving Ostapenko a total of four points through the games played.
Ostapenko needed something special to strike a comeback and she made it happen in the fourth game as she pushed her opponent far with great cross-court winners in the following game. It gave her the victory needed to sit a game down of Hsieh.
The 33-year-old answered with a break and built a hold of serve upon it that doubled the margin over the Latvian. Consistency was well in the core plan of Hsieh who dominated well in the seventh game while double faults rattled Ostapenko as Hsieh took a 5-2 lead and ultimately, Ostapenko wilted under pressure to hand the Taiwanese a 6-2 set win.
The former semifinalist gave herself nothing to overcome the seven double faults she produced in the set while her opponent made none and had just two errors through eight games.
When the second set flowed along, Hsieh saw herself break committing errors to give Ostapenko a good start. She managed to break back saving the pace for her benefit before consolidating it with a hold in the third.
The Latvian knew that she had to brush off the early problems and made it count with a hold to keep within a game of the Taiwanese star. She leveled with a good hold in the fourth but it was the last game she earned all through the match.
Hsieh was on top of her game as she fed off the frustrations of her opponent to counter at times and keep her serve in check. Ostapenko bombed on a hard-fought game in the sixth but blew two advantage points after saving break points.
Hsieh gained another win on serve that sent Ostapenko over the edge arguing a call that she felt was on the line. It didn’t help her cause as the inevitable came closer with Hsieh getting the win in the eighth game, scoring two match points to close out her match in 69 minutes.
Hsieh’s second win over the Latvian is undoubtedly set to infuse confidence into the Taiwanese as she goes up against Kirsten Flipkens in a Wednesday second round encounter.