Fairy-tale ending for Su-wei
Su-wei wins Malaysian Open after Martic retires
KUALA LUMPUR: Qualifier Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan capped her fairy-tale run by landing the bmw malaysian Open title when she overcame Croatian Petra Martic in the women’s singles final at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort last night.
After losing the first set 2-6, Su-wei bounced back to take the second 7-5 to force a decider.
Su-wei led 4-1 in the third set before fifth seed Martic asked for the game to be stopped.
The exhausted Martic had earlier toiled for more than three hours to overcome second seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) in the semi-final.
That match was called off on Saturday night due to a downfall and had to be played yesterday morning.
The strain of having to play two tough matches took its toll on Martic, as she had barely three hours of rest before returning to court for the title decider. The lanky Martic knew it was game over after she signalled for her trainer to come and massage her legs as she fought back tears.
It was indeed an anticlimactic for the crowd but Su-wei, who pocketed the winner’s cheque of US$37,000, was not complaining.
Su-wei had to battle her way through the qualifiers but luck was on her side throughout the tournament.
Top seed Agnieszka Radswanka of Poland withdrew due to injury to hand Su-wei a place in the last four and she went one step further by beating Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 on Saturday to reach her first WTA final.
Su-wei was a picture of jubilation as she basked in the glory after achieving a record of sorts as the Malaysian Open’s first Asian winner.
Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova beat her compatriot and reigning Olympic champion Elena Dementieva to win the inaugural tournament in 2010. Australia’s Jelena Dokic defeated Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic to bag the title the following year.
“I’m very happy to return to Kuala Lumpur and win my first WTA title. I won an Under-18 tournament when I was only 14 and now, I came out tops again after 12 years,” said the delighted Su-wei, ranked 123rd in the world.
On her game-plan in the final, Su-wei said she did not do anything special.
“I almost fell asleep while Martic was playing (against Jankovic). But I think I changed my racquet and I was more stable with the returns in the second set. I think that’s the key to my victory,” said the world ranked number 123.
In the doubles final, Chang Kai-chen and Chuang Chia-jung became the second Asian pair to land the title, collecting US$11,000.
They took advantage of a tired-looking Chan Hao-ching and Rika Fujiwara of Taiwan-japan, beating them 7-5, 6-4.