French Open: Hsieh, Wang pair wins women’s doubles title

Hsieh Su-Wei and Wang Xinyu rallied from a set down to defeat No.10 Taylor Townsend and Leylah Fernandez

Paris: Hsieh Su-Wei and Wang Xinyu rallied from a set down to defeat No.10 Taylor Townsend and Leylah Fernandez 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-1 on Court Philippe-Chatrier to win the French Open women’s doubles title at Roland Garros, here on Sunday.

Playing in just their second tournament after teaming up in Strasbourg, Hsieh and Wang capped off a stunning fortnight that saw them upset five seeded teams to win their first doubles title of the season.

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Making her 60th Grand Slam doubles main draw appearance, the 37-year-old Hsieh picked up a fifth Grand Slam trophy in women’s doubles and second at Roland-Garros She has also won three Wimbledon doubles titles in 2013, 2019 and 2021.

For the 21-year-old Wang it was a maiden triumph at a major in just her third Grand Slam doubles appearance.

After dominating the opening set with their aggressive play, Townsend and Fernandez quickly found themselves down a break early in the second set.

Hsieh and Wang protected their lead to build a 5-3 lead and had triple set point on Townsend’s serve at 5-3. Townsend and Fernandez roared back to hold and then broke Wang in the next game to level the set at 5-5.

But Hsieh and Wang rallied from falling behind an early mini-break to edge Fernandez and Townsend 7-5 in the tiebreak.

The eventual champions took that momentum into the third set. They broke Fernandez early to build a 3-0 lead and later extend it to a 5-1 lead before Hsieh closed out the win one game later.