By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, March 23, 2019
An inspired Su-Wei Hsieh shocked world No. 1 Naomi Osaka, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, to charge into the Miami Open fourth round.
Photo credit: Lindsey Godwin/Miami Open
Staring blankly, a disconsolate Naomi Osaka dropped her Yonex racquet to the court looking like a woman out of answers in the third set.
An inspired Su-Wei Hsieh disarmed the world No. 1 with sharp angles and disoriented her with down the line drives stunning Osaka, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, to charge into the Miami Open fourth round.
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Down 2-0 in the decider, Hsieh reeled off six of the final seven games.
Osaka, who did not call for new coach Jermaine Jenkins as the third set slipped away, struggled to crack Hsieh's defenses, was reluctant to move forward to finish at net and frequently found the top of the tape when she tried squeezing shots down the line.
"I wouldn't really say it was her," Osaka said. "I would just say I was kind of immature today. I was thinking too much, like everything was on my racquet. Honestly, she has the ability to make winners, too, whenever she wants. I think that was, like, one of the main problems."
Credit Hsieh, who reached a career-high rank of No. 23 in 2013, for keeping calm and controlling crucial rallies at crunch time.
On match point, Hsieh showed force and finesse snapping a smash that ladling a drop shot winner to close a superb performance against an opponent who could not strong-arm her way out of trouble.
The upset came less than two hours after eight-time champion Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament with a knee injury.
It blows open the ladies' draw that has already seen sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina, two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza and Dubai champion Belinda Bencic all bite the dust.
Seeded for just the second time at a Premier Mandatory event, the 27th-seeded Hsieh used her deceptive two-handed strokes off both wings to score her second win over a reigning world No. 1 in eight months.
Last July, the 33-year-old Hsieh stormed back from 2-5 down in the final set and saved a match point shocking world No. 1 Simona Halep, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, to charge into the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time in 10 career appearances.
Today, Hsieh rallied from a one-set, 3-5 deficit then roared back from a break down in the decider snapping the two-time Grand Slam champion's streak of 63 straight victories when winning the opening set.
"I mean, I think eventually I was going to lose after I won the first set," Osaka said. "But I feel like today I got ahead of myself. I feel like there were some times when I was returning her serve in the second set, I felt myself relax a bit because I thought that I could be able to serve it out anyways.
"So I think there's just moments like that that I have to, like, figure out how to not just not wait. How do I say? Just focus more, fight for every point, not think that I can just turn it on and off."
Straddling the baseline, Hsieh befuddled the bigger hitter taking the ball early, pushing the top seed corner-to-corner and sometimes using the drop shot to drag Osaka forward.
Osaka served for the match at 5-4, but Hsieh broke at 30 to level.
A break isn't a break, of course, until you hold. Hsieh fought off a break point in the 11th game for 6-5.
Still, Osaka was in position for a straight sets win holding a 4-3 lead in the tie breaker, but Hsieh
In January, Osaka battled back from a 7-5, 4-2 deficit to subdue Hsieh, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1.
The two-time Grand Slam champion knew what she was in for in today's rematch, but couldn't close out an opponent so light on her feet her sneakers barely squeaked across the aqua blue court.
The creative shotmaker combines a sculptor's feel with a flair for sharp angles and whimsical finesse to disrupt Osaka's timing and force one of the most explosive players in the sport into awkward positions.
"That match, whew. She's unpredictable," Osaka said of Hsieh. "She can hit winners from anywhere it seems like. She has a slice, dropshot. Feels like she has everything.
"For me it's tough to play her because I don't know what's going to happen. It's that unpredictability that I think makes her play really well and beat all the top people."
A smiling Hsieh thanked fans for the support, but didn't spend too much time celebrating.
The two-time Grand Slam doubles champion was due back on Court 1 to play her doubles match with Barbora Strycova.
Hsieh's reward for surprising the reigning world No. 1 is a fourth-round match with former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, who swept Monica Niculescu, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Wozniacki converted all four break points and saved 12 of 15 break-points she faced, defeating Niculescu for the 10th time in as many meetings.