Johanna Konta v Hsieh Su-wei: Who is the tennis star who took on UK's Wimbledon hope?
TAIWAN’s top player Hsieh Su-wei took on Johanna Konta on the first day of the Grand Slam at Wimbledon. But who is the Taiwanese tennis player and what is her WTA ranking?
Johanna Konta slips and misses out on a match point
The rising star in Taiwan’s tennis scene was unfortunately left on the ropes after an incredibly one-sided battle which saw Konta win 6 – 2, 6 – 2.
Hsie’s defeat at the hands of Britain’s number one comes as an exceptionally bitter loss considering Konta recently struggled with a back injury.
But the two tennis players have already sparred in the past, with Hsie beating Konta in three sets at the French Open, making the defeat all the more surprising.
The 31-year-old from Kaohsiung in Tapei is the highest ranked Taiwanese player in both the singles and doubles.
She is currently ranked 113th in the singles, with a more favourable 66th position in the doubles rankings.
Hsie began her tennis career at the age of five, when her father took her to a game in the north Taiwanese city of Hsin-Chu.
She reached pro status as a teenager in 2001 when she fought her way to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open Junior Grand Slam event.
The 15-year-old tennis player also tore through the ITF circuit, winning all five of the events she entered that year – Wellington, Kaohsiung, Peachtree City and Bangkok twice.
She ended that year with an impressive record of 41 wins to two losses.
In 2006 she entered her first ever Wimbledon tournament but failed to go past the first round of the Ladies’ singles and doubles. She then entered in 2007 with the same results.
She finally broke her spell of bad luck at Wimbledon in 2013 when she won the tournament with partner Peng Shuai and secured five WTA doubles titles.
Hsieh regularly fares better in doubles tournaments and to date carries 17 WTA and 20 ITF doubles trophies.
In fact in 2013, the Taiwanese athlete was ranked number 3 in the WTA, a score which she has not managed to reclaim since. Her career record in doubles is 371 – 201.
As far as her career in singles goes, she has won two WTA awards and 27 ITF trophies.
Former world number ones Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf are listed among the tennis players she idolised growing up.
The French Open at Roland Garros is her favourite tournament to play and Hsieh is a self-admitted fan of doubles and mixed doubles. She plays a right-handed stroke.
Outside of tennis she is an avid reader and writer who indulges in shopping, taking pictures and cooking.