Taipei, Jan. 23 (CNA) Undeterred by her singles defeat a day earlier, Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei rolled into the women's doubles semifinals at the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Hsieh and Peng Shuai of China scored their fourth victory without dropping a set at the Grand Slam event, ousting fourth seeds Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4 in under 75 minutes.
They will next face fifth seeds Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France for a spot in the final.
Babos and Mladenovic edged past top seeds Latisha Chan of Taiwan and Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic in a third-set tiebreaker earlier Tuesday.
The eighth-seeded Hsieh and Peng, who were ranked No. 1 in doubles when they last teamed up on a regular basis in 2013 and 2014, were tested in the first set but won the big points, saving all four break points they faced and winning two of the three break opportunities they had on their opponents' serve.
Hsieh and Peng were poised to steamroll through the second set after jumping out to a 2-0 lead and two break points in the third game, but their Czech opponents battled back to take a 4-3 lead.
The Taiwan-China duo held their nerve, however, and took the final three games, clinching victory on their third match point.
Hsieh showed no signs of being undone by her three-set singles defeat a day earlier to Angelique Kerber in which she appeared to wear down starting late in the second set.
In reaching the final 16 in singles, Hsieh matched her best Australian Open showing from 2008. Her previous bests in doubles at the Australian Open were quarterfinal appearances in 2009 and 2011.
Strycova may have been at the bigger disadvantage, her nearly three-hour singles defeat on Monday not concluding until after just 1:30 a.m. Tuesday local time.
