Hsieh and her box of tricks

HSIEH Su-wei’s game is so unorthodox she admits that finding practice partners has proved challenging in the past.

It might actually be a blessing in disguise though because the 32-yearold Chinese Taipei player is making quite a habit of catching some of the game’s biggest names off guard.

On Saturday she drove Romania’s world No. 1 Simona Halep to distraction at Wimbledon, using her Pandora’s box of drop shots, lobs, slices and wristy winners to claim a memorable 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 win on a mesmerized Court One to reach the last 16.

At the start of the year she flummoxed Spanish big-hitter Garbine Muguruza at the Australian Open and tied former champion Angelique Kerber in knots before running out of gas. Last year she knocked seventh seed Johanna Konta out of the French Open.

Her practice partners have had a hard time coping with her unique approach, which Hsieh readily acknowledges.

“I drove the girls crazy before because when I practiced, in two shots I did a drop shot,” 48th-ranked Hsieh, who will face Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova for a place in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, told reporters.

“If I didn’t drop shot, I hit as hard as I could. The girl (practice partner) was like... maybe I should have someone to travel with me and I won’t drive the other girls crazy.”